diff --git a/public/service/message.go b/public/service/message.go
index 1e4d87878..c60b16602 100644
--- a/public/service/message.go
+++ b/public/service/message.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 
+	"github.com/redpanda-data/benthos/v4/internal/batch"
 	"github.com/redpanda-data/benthos/v4/internal/bloblang/mapping"
 	"github.com/redpanda-data/benthos/v4/internal/bloblang/query"
 	"github.com/redpanda-data/benthos/v4/internal/message"
@@ -215,6 +216,32 @@ func (m *Message) WithContext(ctx context.Context) *Message {
 	}
 }
 
+// WithCollapsedCount returns a new message indicating that it is the result of
+// collapsing count messages into one. The count is accumulated: if a message
+// already has a collapsed count of 3 and WithCollapsedCount(2) is called, the
+// result has a collapsed count of 4 (the existing count plus count-1 to avoid
+// double-counting the message itself). The count parameter must be >= 1.
+//
+// This allows downstream components to know how many total messages were
+// combined, which is important for accurate output metrics (e.g. output_sent).
+// This is useful when implementing processors that combine multiple messages
+// into one (such as archive).
+func (m *Message) WithCollapsedCount(count int) *Message {
+	ctx := batch.CtxWithCollapsedCount(m.Context(), count)
+	return m.WithContext(ctx)
+}
+
+// CollapsedCount returns the actual number of messages that were collapsed into
+// the resulting message batch. This value could differ from len(batch) when
+// processors that archive batched message parts have been applied.
+func (b MessageBatch) CollapsedCount() int {
+	total := 0
+	for _, m := range b {
+		total += batch.CtxCollapsedCount(m.Context())
+	}
+	return total
+}
+
 // AsBytes returns the underlying byte array contents of a message or, if the
 // contents are a structured type, attempts to marshal the contents as a JSON
 // document and returns either the byte array result or an error.
diff --git a/public/service/message_test.go b/public/service/message_test.go
index 0a0b6a000..04dec7bbc 100644
--- a/public/service/message_test.go
+++ b/public/service/message_test.go
@@ -1083,3 +1083,25 @@ func TestSyncResponseBatched(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Equal(t, c, string(data))
 	}
 }
+
+func TestMessageWithCollapsedCount(t *testing.T) {
+	m1 := NewMessage([]byte("foo"))
+
+	// Default collapsed count is 1
+	b1 := MessageBatch{m1}
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, b1.CollapsedCount())
+
+	// Setting collapsed count to 3
+	m2 := m1.WithCollapsedCount(3)
+	b2 := MessageBatch{m2}
+	assert.Equal(t, 3, b2.CollapsedCount())
+
+	// Chaining collapsed counts accumulates
+	m3 := m2.WithCollapsedCount(2)
+	b3 := MessageBatch{m3}
+	assert.Equal(t, 4, b3.CollapsedCount())
+
+	// Multiple messages in a batch sum their collapsed counts
+	bAll := MessageBatch{m1, m2, m3}
+	assert.Equal(t, 8, bAll.CollapsedCount())
+}