diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index b170a54934cb..80c99297a545 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -267,6 +267,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v8.8.1\...main[Check the HEAD diff]
 - Add new metricset network for the vSphere module. {pull}40559[40559]
 - Add new metricset resourcepool for the vSphere module. {pull}40456[40456]
 - Log every 401 response from Kubernetes API Server {pull}42714[42714]
+- Add a new `match_by_parent_instance` option to `perfmon` module. {pull}43002[43002]
 
 *Metricbeat*
 
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/_meta/docs.asciidoc b/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/_meta/docs.asciidoc
index 9550e771ebc7..9df8c740fb49 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/_meta/docs.asciidoc
+++ b/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/_meta/docs.asciidoc
@@ -49,6 +49,13 @@ The default behaviour is for all measurements to be sent as separate events.
 
 *`refresh_wildcard_counters`*:: A boolean option to refresh the counter list at each fetch. By default, the counter list will be retrieved at the starting time, to refresh the list at each fetch, users will have to enable this setting.
 
+*`match_by_parent_instance`*:: A boolean option that causes all instances
+of the same parent to have the same instance value. In the above example,
+this will cause metrics for `svchost`, `svchost#1`, etc. to have an `instance`
+value of `svchost`. If set to `false` they will keep the original values
+(`svchost`, `svchost#1`, etc.).
+It defaults to `true`.
+
 
 [float]
 ==== Query Configuration
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/config.go b/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/config.go
index f16c9c3b324b..4033fc404aeb 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/config.go
+++ b/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/config.go
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	RefreshWildcardCounters bool          `config:"perfmon.refresh_wildcard_counters"`
 	Queries                 []Query       `config:"perfmon.queries"`
 	GroupAllCountersTo      string        `config:"perfmon.group_all_counter"`
+	MatchByParentInstance   *bool         `config:"perfmon.match_by_parent_instance"`
 }
 
 // QueryConfig for perfmon queries. This will be used as the new configuration format
@@ -77,6 +78,10 @@ func (conf *Config) Validate() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (conf *Config) ShouldMatchByParentInstance() bool {
+	return conf.MatchByParentInstance == nil || *conf.MatchByParentInstance
+}
+
 func isValidFormat(format string) bool {
 	for _, form := range allowedFormats {
 		if form == format {
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/data.go b/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/data.go
index 0391266e65a5..5e35c9ae4e1b 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/data.go
+++ b/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/data.go
@@ -75,12 +75,14 @@ func (re *Reader) groupToEvents(counters map[string][]pdh.CounterValue) []mb.Eve
 					eventMap[eventKey].Error = fmt.Errorf("failed on query=%v: %w", counterPath, val.Err.Error)
 				}
 				if val.Instance != "" {
-					// will ignore instance index
-					if ok, match := matchesParentProcess(val.Instance); ok {
-						eventMap[eventKey].MetricSetFields.Put(counter.InstanceField, match)
-					} else {
-						eventMap[eventKey].MetricSetFields.Put(counter.InstanceField, val.Instance)
+					instanceName := val.Instance
+					if re.config.ShouldMatchByParentInstance() {
+						if ok, match := matchesParentProcess(val.Instance); ok {
+							// will ignore instance index
+							instanceName = match
+						}
 					}
+					eventMap[eventKey].MetricSetFields.Put(counter.InstanceField, instanceName)
 				}
 			}
 
@@ -126,13 +128,13 @@ func (re *Reader) groupToSingleEvent(counters map[string][]pdh.CounterValue) mb.
 					continue
 				}
 				var counterVal float64
-				switch val.Measurement.(type) {
+				switch m := val.Measurement.(type) {
 				case int64:
-					counterVal = float64(val.Measurement.(int64))
+					counterVal = float64(m)
 				case int:
-					counterVal = float64(val.Measurement.(int))
+					counterVal = float64(m)
 				default:
-					counterVal = val.Measurement.(float64)
+					counterVal, _ = val.Measurement.(float64)
 				}
 				if _, ok := measurements[readerCounter.QueryField]; !ok {
 					measurements[readerCounter.QueryField] = counterVal
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/data_test.go b/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/data_test.go
index 9c4691216b34..fdb6683e897e 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/data_test.go
+++ b/metricbeat/module/windows/perfmon/data_test.go
@@ -292,6 +292,82 @@ func TestGroupToSingleEvent(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, val, mapstr.M{"processor_count": float64(2)})
 }
 
+func TestMatchByParentInstance(t *testing.T) {
+	_true := true
+	_false := false
+	reader := Reader{
+		query: pdh.Query{},
+		log:   nil,
+		config: Config{
+			MatchByParentInstance: &_true,
+		},
+		counters: []PerfCounter{
+			{
+				QueryField:    "%_processor_time",
+				QueryName:     `\Processor Information(*)\% Processor Time`,
+				Format:        "float",
+				ObjectName:    "Processor Information",
+				ObjectField:   "object",
+				InstanceName:  "*",
+				InstanceField: "instance",
+				ChildQueries:  []string{`\Processor Information(processor)\% Processor Time`, `\Processor Information(processor#1)\% Processor Time`},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	counters := map[string][]pdh.CounterValue{
+		`\Processor Information(processor)\% Processor Time`: {
+			{
+				Instance:    "processor",
+				Measurement: 23,
+			},
+		},
+		`\Processor Information(processor#1)\% Processor Time`: {
+			{
+				Instance:    "processor#1",
+				Measurement: 21,
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	{
+		events := reader.groupToEvents(counters)
+		assert.NotNil(t, events)
+		assert.Equal(t, 2, len(events))
+		ok, err := events[0].MetricSetFields.HasKey("instance")
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.True(t, ok)
+		ok, err = events[1].MetricSetFields.HasKey("instance")
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.True(t, ok)
+		val1, err := events[0].MetricSetFields.GetValue("instance")
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, val1, "processor")
+		val2, err := events[1].MetricSetFields.GetValue("instance")
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, val2, "processor")
+	}
+
+	reader.config.MatchByParentInstance = &_false
+	{
+		events := reader.groupToEvents(counters)
+		assert.NotNil(t, events)
+		assert.Equal(t, 2, len(events))
+		ok, err := events[0].MetricSetFields.HasKey("instance")
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.True(t, ok)
+		ok, err = events[1].MetricSetFields.HasKey("instance")
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.True(t, ok)
+		val1, err := events[0].MetricSetFields.GetValue("instance")
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, val1, "processor")
+		val2, err := events[1].MetricSetFields.GetValue("instance")
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, val2, "processor#1")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestMatchesParentProcess(t *testing.T) {
 	ok, val := matchesParentProcess("svchost")
 	assert.True(t, ok)