diff --git a/libvirt/templates/daemonset-libvirt.yaml b/libvirt/templates/daemonset-libvirt.yaml
index 99fd70585d..7a537b4033 100644
--- a/libvirt/templates/daemonset-libvirt.yaml
+++ b/libvirt/templates/daemonset-libvirt.yaml
@@ -20,13 +20,6 @@ exec:
     - /usr/bin/virsh connect
 {{- end }}
 
-{{- define "libvirtExporterProbeTemplate" }}
-httpGet:
-  path: /
-  port: metrics
-  scheme: HTTP
-{{- end }}
-
 {{- define "libvirt.daemonset" }}
 {{- $daemonset := index . 0 }}
 {{- $configMapName := index . 1 }}
@@ -310,31 +303,8 @@ spec:
             {{- end }}
             {{- end }}
 {{ if $mounts_libvirt.volumeMounts }}{{ toYaml $mounts_libvirt.volumeMounts | indent 12 }}{{ end }}
-        {{- if .Values.pod.sidecars.libvirt_exporter.enabled }}
-        - name: libvirt-exporter
-{{ tuple $envAll "libvirt_exporter" | include "helm-toolkit.snippets.image" | indent 10 }}
-{{ tuple $envAll $envAll.Values.pod.resources.libvirt_exporter | include "helm-toolkit.snippets.kubernetes_resources" | indent 10 }}
-{{ dict "envAll" $envAll "application" "libvirt" "container" "libvirt_exporter" | include "helm-toolkit.snippets.kubernetes_container_security_context" | indent 10 }}
-          {{- with .Values.pod.sidecars.libvirt_exporter }}
-            {{- if and (hasKey . "args") (gt (len .args) 0) }}
-          args:
-              {{- range .args }}
-            - {{ . | quote }}
-              {{- end }}
-            {{- end }}
-          {{- end }}
-          ports:
-            - name: metrics
-              protocol: TCP
-              containerPort: {{ tuple "libvirt_exporter" "direct" "metrics" . | include "helm-toolkit.endpoints.endpoint_port_lookup" }}
-{{ dict "envAll" . "component" "libvirt" "container" "libvirt_exporter" "type" "readiness" "probeTemplate" (include "libvirtExporterProbeTemplate" . | fromYaml) | include "helm-toolkit.snippets.kubernetes_probe" | indent 10 }}
-{{ dict "envAll" . "component" "libvirt" "container" "libvirt_exporter" "type" "liveness" "probeTemplate" (include "libvirtExporterProbeTemplate" . | fromYaml) | include "helm-toolkit.snippets.kubernetes_probe" | indent 10 }}
-          volumeMounts:
-            - name: run
-              mountPath: /run
-              {{- if or ( gt .Capabilities.KubeVersion.Major "1" ) ( ge .Capabilities.KubeVersion.Minor "10" ) }}
-              mountPropagation: Bidirectional
-              {{- end }}
+        {{- with .Values.libvirt.extraContainers }}
+        {{- tpl (toYaml .) $envAll | nindent 8 }}
         {{- end }}
       volumes:
         {{ dict "enabled" $ssl_enabled "secretName" $envAll.Values.secrets.tls.client "name" "ssl-client" "path" "/etc/pki/libvirt" "certs" (tuple "clientcert.pem" "clientkey.pem" ) | include "helm-toolkit.snippets.tls_volume" | indent 8 }}
diff --git a/libvirt/values.yaml b/libvirt/values.yaml
index 54f7c924b0..21a6e6276d 100644
--- a/libvirt/values.yaml
+++ b/libvirt/values.yaml
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ labels:
 images:
   tags:
     libvirt: quay.io/airshipit/libvirt:2025.1-ubuntu_noble
-    libvirt_exporter: vexxhost/libvirtd-exporter:latest
     ceph_config_helper: 'quay.io/airshipit/ceph-config-helper:ubuntu_jammy_20.2.0-1-20260116'
     dep_check: quay.io/airshipit/kubernetes-entrypoint:latest-ubuntu_jammy
     image_repo_sync: quay.io/airshipit/docker:27.5.0
@@ -74,10 +73,6 @@ endpoints:
     port:
       registry:
         default: null
-  libvirt_exporter:
-    port:
-      metrics:
-        default: 9474
 
 network_policy:
   libvirt:
@@ -273,19 +268,6 @@ pod:
             initialDelaySeconds: 15
             periodSeconds: 60
             timeoutSeconds: 5
-      libvirt_exporter:
-        liveness:
-          enabled: true
-          params:
-            initialDelaySeconds: 30
-            periodSeconds: 60
-            timeoutSeconds: 5
-        readiness:
-          enabled: true
-          params:
-            initialDelaySeconds: 15
-            periodSeconds: 60
-            timeoutSeconds: 5
   security_context:
     libvirt:
       pod:
@@ -298,8 +280,6 @@ pod:
         libvirt:
           privileged: true
           readOnlyRootFilesystem: false
-        libvirt_exporter:
-          privileged: true
         libvirt_init_modules:
           readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
           privileged: true
@@ -314,12 +294,6 @@ pod:
           capabilities:
             drop:
               - ALL
-  sidecars:
-    libvirt_exporter:
-      enabled: false
-      args:
-        - "--libvirt.nova"
-
   affinity:
     anti:
       type:
@@ -368,13 +342,6 @@ pod:
         limits:
           memory: "1024Mi"
           cpu: "2000m"
-    libvirt_exporter:
-      requests:
-        memory: "128Mi"
-        cpu: "100m"
-      limits:
-        memory: "256Mi"
-        cpu: "500m"
 
 dependencies:
   dynamic:
@@ -422,6 +389,10 @@ dependencies:
         - endpoint: internal
           service: local_image_registry
 
+libvirt:
+  extraContainers: []
+
+
 manifests:
   configmap_bin: true
   configmap_etc: true
@@ -430,7 +401,6 @@ manifests:
   network_policy: false
   role_cert_manager: false
   secret_registry: true
-  podmonitor: false
 
 secrets:
   oci_image_registry:
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/libvirt-85375c3ae369bc39.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/libvirt-85375c3ae369bc39.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a579ecdc86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/libvirt-85375c3ae369bc39.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+libvirt:
+  - |
+    Add .Values.libvirt.extraContainers hook to make it possible to
+    add additional containers to libvirt daemonset, e.g. for monitoring
+    purposes. Also move exporter container to values_overrides.
+...
diff --git a/values_overrides/libvirt/inovex_exporter.yaml b/values_overrides/libvirt/inovex_exporter.yaml
index a530a86ed5..d916b37f98 100644
--- a/values_overrides/libvirt/inovex_exporter.yaml
+++ b/values_overrides/libvirt/inovex_exporter.yaml
@@ -1,14 +1,33 @@
 ---
-# NOTE: Use the inovex exporter image by default since 2026.1 release.
-images:
-  tags:
-    libvirt_exporter: ghcr.io/inovex/prometheus-libvirt-exporter:2.3.0
-pod:
-  sidecars:
-    libvirt_exporter:
-      enabled: true
+libvirt:
+  extraContainers:
+    - name: libvirt-exporter
+      image: ghcr.io/inovex/prometheus-libvirt-exporter:2.3.0
+      imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
       args:
         - --libvirt.uri=/run/libvirt/libvirt-sock-ro
-manifests:
-  podmonitor: true
+      ports:
+        - name: metrics
+          protocol: TCP
+          containerPort: 9177
+      livenessProbe:
+        httpGet:
+          path: /metrics
+          port: 9177
+        initialDelaySeconds: 30
+        periodSeconds: 60
+        timeoutSeconds: 5
+      readinessProbe:
+        httpGet:
+          path: /metrics
+          port: 9177
+        initialDelaySeconds: 15
+        periodSeconds: 60
+        timeoutSeconds: 5
+      securityContext:
+        privileged: true
+      volumeMounts:
+        - name: run
+          mountPath: /run
+          mountPropagation: Bidirectional
 ...
diff --git a/values_overrides/libvirt/vexxhost_exporter.yaml b/values_overrides/libvirt/vexxhost_exporter.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1d54547c61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/values_overrides/libvirt/vexxhost_exporter.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+---
+libvirt:
+  extraContainers:
+    - name: libvirt-exporter
+      image: vexxhost/libvirtd-exporter:latest
+      imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
+      args:
+        - "--libvirt.nova"
+      ports:
+        - name: metrics
+          protocol: TCP
+          containerPort: 9474
+      livenessProbe:
+        httpGet:
+          path: /metrics
+          port: 9474
+        initialDelaySeconds: 30
+        periodSeconds: 60
+        timeoutSeconds: 5
+      readinessProbe:
+        httpGet:
+          path: /metrics
+          port: 9474
+        initialDelaySeconds: 15
+        periodSeconds: 60
+        timeoutSeconds: 5
+      securityContext:
+        privileged: true
+      volumeMounts:
+        - name: run
+          mountPath: /run
+          mountPropagation: Bidirectional
+...
diff --git a/zuul.d/base.yaml b/zuul.d/base.yaml
index bef2799d51..9f82bdb188 100644
--- a/zuul.d/base.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/base.yaml
@@ -148,7 +148,9 @@
         - ./tools/deployment/component/heat/heat.sh
         - export GLANCE_BACKEND=local; ./tools/deployment/component/glance/glance.sh
         - ./tools/deployment/component/compute-kit/openvswitch.sh
-        - ./tools/deployment/component/compute-kit/libvirt.sh
+        - >-
+          export OSH_EXTRA_HELM_ARGS="--values ../openstack-helm/values_overrides/libvirt/inovex_exporter.yaml";
+          ./tools/deployment/component/compute-kit/libvirt.sh
         - ./tools/deployment/component/compute-kit/compute-kit.sh
         - export OSH_TEST_TIMEOUT=1200;./tools/deployment/common/run-helm-tests.sh neutron
         - ./tools/deployment/common/run-helm-tests.sh nova