diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorExporterNodeBase.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorExporterNodeBase.ts
index ea6701ae78..92bc64b67c 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorExporterNodeBase.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorExporterNodeBase.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import {
   CollectorExporterNodeBase as CollectorExporterBaseMain,
   collectorTypes,
+  CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase,
 } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-collector';
 import { ServiceClientType } from './types';
 
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ export abstract class CollectorExporterNodeBase<
     this._sendingPromises.push(promise);
   }
 
-  onInit(config: collectorTypes.CollectorExporterConfigBase): void {
+  onInit(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): void {
     this._isShutdown = false;
     // defer to next tick and lazy load to avoid loading protobufjs too early
     // and making this impossible to be instrumented
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorMetricExporter.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorMetricExporter.ts
index d10611b3a9..43618f5c06 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorMetricExporter.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorMetricExporter.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import {
   collectorTypes,
   toCollectorExportMetricServiceRequest,
+  CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase,
 } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-collector';
 import { MetricRecord, MetricExporter } from '@opentelemetry/metrics';
 import { ServiceClientType } from './types';
@@ -47,16 +48,14 @@ export class CollectorMetricExporter
     );
   }
 
-  getDefaultUrl(config: collectorTypes.CollectorExporterConfigBase): string {
+  getDefaultUrl(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): string {
     if (!config.url) {
       return DEFAULT_COLLECTOR_URL;
     }
     return config.url;
   }
 
-  getDefaultServiceName(
-    config: collectorTypes.CollectorExporterConfigBase
-  ): string {
+  getDefaultServiceName(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): string {
     return config.serviceName || DEFAULT_SERVICE_NAME;
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorTraceExporter.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorTraceExporter.ts
index 79ca82049c..49d29c5d60 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorTraceExporter.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/CollectorTraceExporter.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import { CollectorExporterNodeBase } from './CollectorExporterNodeBase';
 import {
   collectorTypes,
   toCollectorExportTraceServiceRequest,
+  CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase,
 } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-collector';
 import { ServiceClientType } from './types';
 
@@ -40,16 +41,14 @@ export class CollectorTraceExporter
     return toCollectorExportTraceServiceRequest(spans, this);
   }
 
-  getDefaultUrl(config: collectorTypes.CollectorExporterConfigBase): string {
+  getDefaultUrl(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): string {
     if (!config.url) {
       return DEFAULT_COLLECTOR_URL;
     }
     return config.url;
   }
 
-  getDefaultServiceName(
-    config: collectorTypes.CollectorExporterConfigBase
-  ): string {
+  getDefaultServiceName(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): string {
     return config.serviceName || DEFAULT_SERVICE_NAME;
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/util.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/util.ts
index 05e4ec00fc..f944d91512 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/util.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/src/util.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import {
   collectorTypes,
   sendWithHttp,
+  CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase,
 } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-collector';
 import * as path from 'path';
 
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ export function getExportRequestProto(): Type | undefined {
 
 export function onInit<ExportItem, ServiceRequest>(
   collector: CollectorExporterNodeBase<ExportItem, ServiceRequest>,
-  _config: collectorTypes.CollectorExporterConfigBase
+  _config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase
 ): void {
   const dir = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'protos');
   const root = new protobufjs.Root();
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/test/CollectorMetricExporter.test.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/test/CollectorMetricExporter.test.ts
index 0a943a737f..572947bd12 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/test/CollectorMetricExporter.test.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/test/CollectorMetricExporter.test.ts
@@ -14,9 +14,12 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
+import {
+  collectorTypes,
+  CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase,
+} from '@opentelemetry/exporter-collector';
 import * as api from '@opentelemetry/api';
 import * as metrics from '@opentelemetry/metrics';
-import { collectorTypes } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-collector';
 import * as core from '@opentelemetry/core';
 import * as http from 'http';
 import * as assert from 'assert';
@@ -48,7 +51,7 @@ const waitTimeMS = 20;
 
 describe('CollectorMetricExporter - node with proto over http', () => {
   let collectorExporter: CollectorMetricExporter;
-  let collectorExporterConfig: collectorTypes.CollectorExporterConfigBase;
+  let collectorExporterConfig: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase;
   let spyRequest: sinon.SinonSpy;
   let spyWrite: sinon.SinonSpy;
   let metrics: metrics.MetricRecord[];
@@ -65,6 +68,8 @@ describe('CollectorMetricExporter - node with proto over http', () => {
         serviceName: 'bar',
         attributes: {},
         url: 'http://foo.bar.com',
+        keepAlive: true,
+        httpAgentOptions: { keepAliveMsecs: 2000 },
       };
       collectorExporter = new CollectorMetricExporter(collectorExporterConfig);
       // Overwrites the start time to make tests consistent
@@ -120,6 +125,19 @@ describe('CollectorMetricExporter - node with proto over http', () => {
       }, waitTimeMS);
     });
 
+    it('should have keep alive and keepAliveMsecs option set', done => {
+      collectorExporter.export(metrics, () => {});
+
+      setTimeout(() => {
+        const args = spyRequest.args[0];
+        const options = args[0];
+        const agent = options.agent;
+        assert.strictEqual(agent.keepAlive, true);
+        assert.strictEqual(agent.options.keepAliveMsecs, 2000);
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
     it('should successfully send metrics', done => {
       collectorExporter.export(metrics, () => {});
 
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/test/CollectorTraceExporter.test.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/test/CollectorTraceExporter.test.ts
index 6f534d9558..6120493c93 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/test/CollectorTraceExporter.test.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector-proto/test/CollectorTraceExporter.test.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import { collectorTypes } from '@opentelemetry/exporter-collector';
+import {
+  collectorTypes,
+  CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase,
+} from '@opentelemetry/exporter-collector';
 
 import * as core from '@opentelemetry/core';
 import { ReadableSpan } from '@opentelemetry/tracing';
@@ -43,7 +46,7 @@ const waitTimeMS = 20;
 
 describe('CollectorTraceExporter - node with proto over http', () => {
   let collectorExporter: CollectorTraceExporter;
-  let collectorExporterConfig: collectorTypes.CollectorExporterConfigBase;
+  let collectorExporterConfig: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase;
   let spyRequest: sinon.SinonSpy;
   let spyWrite: sinon.SinonSpy;
   let spans: ReadableSpan[];
@@ -60,6 +63,8 @@ describe('CollectorTraceExporter - node with proto over http', () => {
         serviceName: 'bar',
         attributes: {},
         url: 'http://foo.bar.com',
+        keepAlive: true,
+        httpAgentOptions: { keepAliveMsecs: 2000 },
       };
       collectorExporter = new CollectorTraceExporter(collectorExporterConfig);
       spans = [];
@@ -95,6 +100,19 @@ describe('CollectorTraceExporter - node with proto over http', () => {
       }, waitTimeMS);
     });
 
+    it('should have keep alive and keepAliveMsecs option set', done => {
+      collectorExporter.export(spans, () => {});
+
+      setTimeout(() => {
+        const args = spyRequest.args[0];
+        const options = args[0];
+        const agent = options.agent;
+        assert.strictEqual(agent.keepAlive, true);
+        assert.strictEqual(agent.options.keepAliveMsecs, 2000);
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
     it('should successfully send the spans', done => {
       collectorExporter.export(spans, () => {});
 
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorExporterNodeBase.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorExporterNodeBase.ts
index c086210850..2f3d2977de 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorExporterNodeBase.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorExporterNodeBase.ts
@@ -14,8 +14,11 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
+import type * as http from 'http';
+import type * as https from 'https';
+
 import { CollectorExporterBase } from '../../CollectorExporterBase';
-import { CollectorExporterConfigBase } from '../../types';
+import { CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase } from './types';
 import * as collectorTypes from '../../types';
 import { parseHeaders } from '../../util';
 import { sendWithHttp } from './util';
@@ -27,22 +30,35 @@ export abstract class CollectorExporterNodeBase<
   ExportItem,
   ServiceRequest
 > extends CollectorExporterBase<
-  CollectorExporterConfigBase,
+  CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase,
   ExportItem,
   ServiceRequest
 > {
   DEFAULT_HEADERS: Record<string, string> = {};
   headers: Record<string, string>;
-  constructor(config: CollectorExporterConfigBase = {}) {
+  keepAlive: boolean = true;
+  httpAgentOptions: http.AgentOptions | https.AgentOptions = {};
+  constructor(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase = {}) {
     super(config);
     if ((config as any).metadata) {
       this.logger.warn('Metadata cannot be set when using http');
     }
     this.headers =
       parseHeaders(config.headers, this.logger) || this.DEFAULT_HEADERS;
+    if (typeof config.keepAlive === 'boolean') {
+      this.keepAlive = config.keepAlive;
+    }
+    if (config.httpAgentOptions) {
+      if (!this.keepAlive) {
+        this.logger.warn(
+          'httpAgentOptions is used only when keepAlive is true'
+        );
+      }
+      this.httpAgentOptions = Object.assign({}, config.httpAgentOptions);
+    }
   }
 
-  onInit(_config: CollectorExporterConfigBase): void {
+  onInit(_config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): void {
     this._isShutdown = false;
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorMetricExporter.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorMetricExporter.ts
index f86c397fbe..30c70e9e07 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorMetricExporter.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorMetricExporter.ts
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@
  */
 
 import { MetricRecord, MetricExporter } from '@opentelemetry/metrics';
-import { CollectorExporterConfigBase } from '../../types';
 import * as collectorTypes from '../../types';
+import { CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase } from './types';
 import { CollectorExporterNodeBase } from './CollectorExporterNodeBase';
 import { toCollectorExportMetricServiceRequest } from '../../transformMetrics';
 
@@ -45,14 +45,14 @@ export class CollectorMetricExporter
     );
   }
 
-  getDefaultUrl(config: CollectorExporterConfigBase): string {
+  getDefaultUrl(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): string {
     if (!config.url) {
       return DEFAULT_COLLECTOR_URL;
     }
     return config.url;
   }
 
-  getDefaultServiceName(config: CollectorExporterConfigBase): string {
+  getDefaultServiceName(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): string {
     return config.serviceName || DEFAULT_SERVICE_NAME;
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorTraceExporter.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorTraceExporter.ts
index 0d5eea66dd..4d6e4c03ff 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorTraceExporter.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/CollectorTraceExporter.ts
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@
  */
 
 import { ReadableSpan, SpanExporter } from '@opentelemetry/tracing';
-import { CollectorExporterConfigBase } from '../../types';
 import { CollectorExporterNodeBase } from './CollectorExporterNodeBase';
+import { CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase } from './types';
 import * as collectorTypes from '../../types';
 import { toCollectorExportTraceServiceRequest } from '../../transform';
 
@@ -38,14 +38,14 @@ export class CollectorTraceExporter
     return toCollectorExportTraceServiceRequest(spans, this, true);
   }
 
-  getDefaultUrl(config: CollectorExporterConfigBase): string {
+  getDefaultUrl(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): string {
     if (!config.url) {
       return DEFAULT_COLLECTOR_URL;
     }
     return config.url;
   }
 
-  getDefaultServiceName(config: CollectorExporterConfigBase): string {
+  getDefaultServiceName(config: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase): string {
     return config.serviceName || DEFAULT_SERVICE_NAME;
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/index.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/index.ts
index 6b647adc24..d2f9fa5223 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/index.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/index.ts
@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ export * from './CollectorTraceExporter';
 export * from './CollectorMetricExporter';
 export * from './CollectorExporterNodeBase';
 export * from './util';
+export * from './types';
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/types.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cee0f477a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+import type * as http from 'http';
+import type * as https from 'https';
+
+import { CollectorExporterConfigBase } from '../../types';
+
+/**
+ * Collector Exporter node base config
+ */
+export interface CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase
+  extends CollectorExporterConfigBase {
+  keepAlive?: boolean;
+  httpAgentOptions?: http.AgentOptions | https.AgentOptions;
+}
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/util.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/util.ts
index 29d46e2943..edab1f2227 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/util.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/src/platform/node/util.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export function sendWithHttp<ExportItem, ServiceRequest>(
 ): void {
   const parsedUrl = new url.URL(collector.url);
 
-  const options = {
+  const options: http.RequestOptions | https.RequestOptions = {
     hostname: parsedUrl.hostname,
     port: parsedUrl.port,
     path: parsedUrl.pathname,
@@ -49,6 +49,14 @@ export function sendWithHttp<ExportItem, ServiceRequest>(
   };
 
   const request = parsedUrl.protocol === 'http:' ? http.request : https.request;
+  const Agent = parsedUrl.protocol === 'http:' ? http.Agent : https.Agent;
+  if (collector.keepAlive) {
+    options.agent = new Agent({
+      ...collector.httpAgentOptions,
+      keepAlive: true,
+    });
+  }
+
   const req = request(options, (res: http.IncomingMessage) => {
     let data = '';
     res.on('data', chunk => (data += chunk));
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/test/node/CollectorMetricExporter.test.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/test/node/CollectorMetricExporter.test.ts
index ecf87d3983..1d65447481 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/test/node/CollectorMetricExporter.test.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/test/node/CollectorMetricExporter.test.ts
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@ import * as core from '@opentelemetry/core';
 import * as http from 'http';
 import * as assert from 'assert';
 import * as sinon from 'sinon';
-import { CollectorMetricExporter } from '../../src/platform/node';
-import { CollectorExporterConfigBase } from '../../src/types';
+import {
+  CollectorMetricExporter,
+  CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase,
+} from '../../src/platform/node';
 import * as collectorTypes from '../../src/types';
 import { MockedResponse } from './nodeHelpers';
 import {
@@ -50,7 +52,7 @@ const address = 'localhost:1501';
 
 describe('CollectorMetricExporter - node with json over http', () => {
   let collectorExporter: CollectorMetricExporter;
-  let collectorExporterConfig: CollectorExporterConfigBase;
+  let collectorExporterConfig: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase;
   let spyRequest: sinon.SinonSpy;
   let spyWrite: sinon.SinonSpy;
   let metrics: MetricRecord[];
@@ -83,6 +85,8 @@ describe('CollectorMetricExporter - node with json over http', () => {
         serviceName: 'bar',
         attributes: {},
         url: 'http://foo.bar.com',
+        keepAlive: true,
+        httpAgentOptions: { keepAliveMsecs: 2000 },
       };
       collectorExporter = new CollectorMetricExporter(collectorExporterConfig);
       // Overwrites the start time to make tests consistent
@@ -138,6 +142,19 @@ describe('CollectorMetricExporter - node with json over http', () => {
       });
     });
 
+    it('should have keep alive and keepAliveMsecs option set', done => {
+      collectorExporter.export(metrics, () => {});
+
+      setTimeout(() => {
+        const args = spyRequest.args[0];
+        const options = args[0];
+        const agent = options.agent;
+        assert.strictEqual(agent.keepAlive, true);
+        assert.strictEqual(agent.options.keepAliveMsecs, 2000);
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
     it('should successfully send metrics', done => {
       collectorExporter.export(metrics, () => {});
 
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/test/node/CollectorTraceExporter.test.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/test/node/CollectorTraceExporter.test.ts
index 86b65faa12..e9c2de8fb5 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/test/node/CollectorTraceExporter.test.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-exporter-collector/test/node/CollectorTraceExporter.test.ts
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@ import { ReadableSpan } from '@opentelemetry/tracing';
 import * as http from 'http';
 import * as assert from 'assert';
 import * as sinon from 'sinon';
-import { CollectorTraceExporter } from '../../src/platform/node';
-import { CollectorExporterConfigBase } from '../../src/types';
+import {
+  CollectorTraceExporter,
+  CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase,
+} from '../../src/platform/node';
 import * as collectorTypes from '../../src/types';
 import { MockedResponse } from './nodeHelpers';
 
@@ -40,7 +42,7 @@ const address = 'localhost:1501';
 
 describe('CollectorTraceExporter - node with json over http', () => {
   let collectorExporter: CollectorTraceExporter;
-  let collectorExporterConfig: CollectorExporterConfigBase;
+  let collectorExporterConfig: CollectorExporterNodeConfigBase;
   let spyRequest: sinon.SinonSpy;
   let spyWrite: sinon.SinonSpy;
   let spans: ReadableSpan[];
@@ -73,6 +75,8 @@ describe('CollectorTraceExporter - node with json over http', () => {
         serviceName: 'bar',
         attributes: {},
         url: 'http://foo.bar.com',
+        keepAlive: true,
+        httpAgentOptions: { keepAliveMsecs: 2000 },
       };
       collectorExporter = new CollectorTraceExporter(collectorExporterConfig);
       spans = [];
@@ -108,6 +112,19 @@ describe('CollectorTraceExporter - node with json over http', () => {
       });
     });
 
+    it('should have keep alive and keepAliveMsecs option set', done => {
+      collectorExporter.export(spans, () => {});
+
+      setTimeout(() => {
+        const args = spyRequest.args[0];
+        const options = args[0];
+        const agent = options.agent;
+        assert.strictEqual(agent.keepAlive, true);
+        assert.strictEqual(agent.options.keepAliveMsecs, 2000);
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
     it('should successfully send the spans', done => {
       collectorExporter.export(spans, () => {});