diff --git a/cluster_test.go b/cluster_test.go
index ecd1003c..e89a8f95 100644
--- a/cluster_test.go
+++ b/cluster_test.go
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ func (ipfs *mockConnector) PinLs(filter string) (map[string]api.IPFSPinStatus, e
 
 func (ipfs *mockConnector) ConnectSwarms() error                          { return nil }
 func (ipfs *mockConnector) ConfigKey(keypath string) (interface{}, error) { return nil, nil }
+func (ipfs *mockConnector) FreeSpace() (int, error)                       { return 0, nil }
 func (ipfs *mockConnector) RepoSize() (int, error)                        { return 0, nil }
 
 func testingCluster(t *testing.T) (*Cluster, *mockAPI, *mockConnector, *mapstate.MapState, *maptracker.MapPinTracker) {
diff --git a/informer/disk/disk.go b/informer/disk/disk.go
index 70bdaa76..f0d1d7f1 100644
--- a/informer/disk/disk.go
+++ b/informer/disk/disk.go
@@ -12,13 +12,21 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ipfs/ipfs-cluster/api"
 )
 
+// TODO: switch default to disk-freespace
+const DefaultMetric = "disk-reposize"
+
 var logger = logging.Logger("diskinfo")
 
 // MetricTTL specifies how long our reported metric is valid in seconds.
 var MetricTTL = 30
 
 // MetricName specifies the name of our metric
-var MetricName = "disk"
+var MetricName string
+
+var nameToRPC = map[string]string{
+	"disk-freespace": "IPFSFreeSpace",
+	"disk-reposize":  "IPFSRepoSize",
+}
 
 // Informer is a simple object to implement the ipfscluster.Informer
 // and Component interfaces.
@@ -28,6 +36,14 @@ type Informer struct {
 
 // NewInformer returns an initialized Informer.
 func NewInformer() *Informer {
+	MetricName = DefaultMetric
+	return &Informer{}
+}
+
+// NewInformer returns an initialized Informer.
+func NewInformerWithMetric(metric string) *Informer {
+	// assume `metric` has been checked already
+	MetricName = metric
 	return &Informer{}
 }
 
@@ -49,8 +65,6 @@ func (disk *Informer) Name() string {
 	return MetricName
 }
 
-// GetMetric uses the IPFSConnector the current
-// repository size and returns it in a metric.
 func (disk *Informer) GetMetric() api.Metric {
 	if disk.rpcClient == nil {
 		return api.Metric{
@@ -58,13 +72,13 @@ func (disk *Informer) GetMetric() api.Metric {
 		}
 	}
 
-	var repoSize int
+	var metric int
 	valid := true
 	err := disk.rpcClient.Call("",
 		"Cluster",
-		"IPFSRepoSize",
+		nameToRPC[MetricName],
 		struct{}{},
-		&repoSize)
+		&metric)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Error(err)
 		valid = false
@@ -72,7 +86,7 @@ func (disk *Informer) GetMetric() api.Metric {
 
 	m := api.Metric{
 		Name:  MetricName,
-		Value: fmt.Sprintf("%d", repoSize),
+		Value: fmt.Sprintf("%d", metric),
 		Valid: valid,
 	}
 
diff --git a/informer/disk/disk_test.go b/informer/disk/disk_test.go
index 352469ac..ad64f190 100644
--- a/informer/disk/disk_test.go
+++ b/informer/disk/disk_test.go
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ func (mock *badRPCService) IPFSRepoSize(in struct{}, out *int) error {
 func Test(t *testing.T) {
 	inf := NewInformer()
 	defer inf.Shutdown()
-	if inf.Name() != "disk" {
+	if inf.Name() != DefaultMetric {
 		t.Error("careful when changing the name of an informer")
 	}
 	m := inf.GetMetric()
diff --git a/ipfs-cluster-service/main.go b/ipfs-cluster-service/main.go
index 7c0f52c6..a84cd60b 100644
--- a/ipfs-cluster-service/main.go
+++ b/ipfs-cluster-service/main.go
@@ -342,8 +342,12 @@ func setupLogging(lvl string) {
 
 func setupAllocation(strategy string) (ipfscluster.Informer, ipfscluster.PinAllocator) {
 	switch strategy {
-	case "disk", "reposize":
-		return disk.NewInformer(), ascendalloc.NewAllocator()
+	case "disk":
+		informer := disk.NewInformer()
+		return informer, ascendalloc.NewAllocator()
+	case "disk-freespace", "disk-reposize":
+		informer := disk.NewInformerWithMetric(strategy)
+		return informer, ascendalloc.NewAllocator()
 	case "numpin", "pincount":
 		return numpin.NewInformer(), ascendalloc.NewAllocator()
 	default:
diff --git a/ipfscluster.go b/ipfscluster.go
index b1ac8ed8..c92c5b7c 100644
--- a/ipfscluster.go
+++ b/ipfscluster.go
@@ -77,6 +77,9 @@ type IPFSConnector interface {
 	// ConfigKey returns the value for a configuration key.
 	// Subobjects are reached with keypaths as "Parent/Child/GrandChild...".
 	ConfigKey(keypath string) (interface{}, error)
+	// FreeSpace returns the amount of remaining space on the repo, calculated from
+	//"repo stat"
+	FreeSpace() (int, error)
 	// RepoSize returns the current repository size as expressed
 	// by "repo stat".
 	RepoSize() (int, error)
diff --git a/ipfsconn/ipfshttp/ipfshttp.go b/ipfsconn/ipfshttp/ipfshttp.go
index 36e0c079..4148ccae 100644
--- a/ipfsconn/ipfshttp/ipfshttp.go
+++ b/ipfsconn/ipfshttp/ipfshttp.go
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ type ipfsIDResp struct {
 
 type ipfsRepoStatResp struct {
 	RepoSize   int
+	StorageMax int
 	NumObjects int
 }
 
@@ -811,6 +812,25 @@ func getConfigValue(path []string, cfg map[string]interface{}) (interface{}, err
 	}
 }
 
+// FreeSpace returns the amount of unused space in the ipfs repository. This
+// value is derived from the RepoSize and StorageMax values given by "repo
+// stats". The value is in bytes.
+func (ipfs *Connector) FreeSpace() (int, error) {
+	res, err := ipfs.get("repo/stat")
+	if err != nil {
+		logger.Error(err)
+		return 0, err
+	}
+
+	var stats ipfsRepoStatResp
+	err = json.Unmarshal(res, &stats)
+	if err != nil {
+		logger.Error(err)
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	return stats.StorageMax - stats.RepoSize, nil
+}
+
 // RepoSize returns the current repository size of the ipfs daemon as
 // provided by "repo stats". The value is in bytes.
 func (ipfs *Connector) RepoSize() (int, error) {
diff --git a/rpc_api.go b/rpc_api.go
index 13ff3117..f5ab4512 100644
--- a/rpc_api.go
+++ b/rpc_api.go
@@ -242,6 +242,13 @@ func (rpcapi *RPCAPI) IPFSConfigKey(in string, out *interface{}) error {
 	return err
 }
 
+// IPFSFreeSpace runs IPFSConnector.FreeSpace().
+func (rpcapi *RPCAPI) IPFSFreeSpace(in struct{}, out *int) error {
+	res, err := rpcapi.c.ipfs.FreeSpace()
+	*out = res
+	return err
+}
+
 // IPFSRepoSize runs IPFSConnector.RepoSize().
 func (rpcapi *RPCAPI) IPFSRepoSize(in struct{}, out *int) error {
 	res, err := rpcapi.c.ipfs.RepoSize()