diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/metric/SQLMetrics.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/metric/SQLMetrics.scala
index b31d0b9989d1c..6d2578c3576da 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/metric/SQLMetrics.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/metric/SQLMetrics.scala
@@ -78,7 +78,12 @@ class SQLMetric(val metricType: String, initValue: Long = 0L) extends Accumulato
 
   def +=(v: Long): Unit = add(v)
 
-  override def value: Long = _value
+  // We may use -1 as initial value of the accumulator, so that the SQL UI can filter out
+  // invalid accumulator values (0 is a valid metric value) when calculating min, max, etc.
+  // However, users can also access the SQL metrics values programmatically via this method.
+  // We should be consistent with the SQL UI and don't expose -1 to users.
+  // See `SQLMetrics.stringValue`. When there is no valid accumulator values, 0 is the metric value.
+  override def value: Long = if (_value < 0) 0 else _value
 
   // Provide special identifier as metadata so we can tell that this is a `SQLMetric` later
   override def toInfo(update: Option[Any], value: Option[Any]): AccumulableInfo = {
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DynamicPartitionPruningSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DynamicPartitionPruningSuite.scala
index f7b51db1c9020..ff78af7e636cc 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DynamicPartitionPruningSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DynamicPartitionPruningSuite.scala
@@ -1715,7 +1715,7 @@ abstract class DynamicPartitionPruningV1Suite extends DynamicPartitionPruningDat
         val allFilesNum = scan1.metrics("numFiles").value
         val allFilesSize = scan1.metrics("filesSize").value
         assert(scan1.metrics("numPartitions").value === numPartitions)
-        assert(scan1.metrics("pruningTime").value === -1)
+        assert(scan1.metrics("pruningTime").value === 0)
 
         // No dynamic partition pruning, so no static metrics
         // Only files from fid = 5 partition are scanned
@@ -1729,7 +1729,7 @@ abstract class DynamicPartitionPruningV1Suite extends DynamicPartitionPruningDat
         assert(0 < partFilesNum && partFilesNum < allFilesNum)
         assert(0 < partFilesSize && partFilesSize < allFilesSize)
         assert(scan2.metrics("numPartitions").value === 1)
-        assert(scan2.metrics("pruningTime").value === -1)
+        assert(scan2.metrics("pruningTime").value === 0)
 
         // Dynamic partition pruning is used
         // Static metrics are as-if reading the whole fact table
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/adaptive/AdaptiveQueryExecSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/adaptive/AdaptiveQueryExecSuite.scala
index 1f10ff36acb4f..988695e2667b1 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/adaptive/AdaptiveQueryExecSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/adaptive/AdaptiveQueryExecSuite.scala
@@ -2170,15 +2170,8 @@ class AdaptiveQueryExecSuite
         assert(aqeReads.length == 2)
         aqeReads.foreach { c =>
           val stats = c.child.asInstanceOf[QueryStageExec].getRuntimeStatistics
-          val rowCount = stats.rowCount.get
+          assert(stats.sizeInBytes >= 0)
           assert(stats.rowCount.get >= 0)
-          if (rowCount == 0) {
-            // For empty relation, the query stage doesn't serialize any bytes.
-            // The SQLMetric keeps initial value.
-            assert(stats.sizeInBytes == -1)
-          } else {
-            assert(stats.sizeInBytes > 0)
-          }
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/metric/SQLMetricsSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/metric/SQLMetricsSuite.scala
index 424052df28933..76b5364164e45 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/metric/SQLMetricsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/metric/SQLMetricsSuite.scala
@@ -786,11 +786,7 @@ class SQLMetricsSuite extends SharedSparkSession with SQLMetricsTestUtils
 
     testMetricsInSparkPlanOperator(exchanges.head,
       Map("dataSize" -> 3200, "shuffleRecordsWritten" -> 100))
-    // `testData2.filter($"b" === 0)` is an empty relation.
-    // The exchange doesn't serialize any bytes.
-    // The SQLMetric keeps initial value.
-    testMetricsInSparkPlanOperator(exchanges(1),
-      Map("dataSize" -> -1, "shuffleRecordsWritten" -> 0))
+    testMetricsInSparkPlanOperator(exchanges(1), Map("dataSize" -> 0, "shuffleRecordsWritten" -> 0))
   }
 
   test("Add numRows to metric of BroadcastExchangeExec") {