diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 77f5a082d2311..9319c775e7ecc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 - [#522](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/pull/522): Phusion passenger input plugin. Thanks @kureikain!
 - [#541](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/pull/541): Kafka output TLS cert support. Thanks @Ormod!
 - [#551](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/551): Statsd UDP read packet size now defaults to 1500 bytes, and is configurable.
+- [#552](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/pull/552): Support for collection interval jittering.
 
 ### Bugfixes
 - [#506](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/506): Ping input doesn't return response time metric when timeout. Thanks @titilambert!
diff --git a/agent.go b/agent.go
index 25fd46462be41..25b157c544358 100644
--- a/agent.go
+++ b/agent.go
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 package telegraf
 
 import (
-	"crypto/rand"
+	cryptorand "crypto/rand"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"math/big"
+	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -92,6 +93,7 @@ func (a *Agent) gatherParallel(pointChan chan *client.Point) error {
 
 	start := time.Now()
 	counter := 0
+	jitter := a.Config.Agent.CollectionJitter.Duration.Nanoseconds()
 	for _, input := range a.Config.Inputs {
 		if input.Config.Interval != 0 {
 			continue
@@ -104,9 +106,19 @@ func (a *Agent) gatherParallel(pointChan chan *client.Point) error {
 
 			acc := NewAccumulator(input.Config, pointChan)
 			acc.SetDebug(a.Config.Agent.Debug)
-			// acc.SetPrefix(input.Name + "_")
 			acc.SetDefaultTags(a.Config.Tags)
 
+			if jitter != 0 {
+				nanoSleep := rand.Int63n(jitter)
+				d, err := time.ParseDuration(fmt.Sprintf("%dns", nanoSleep))
+				if err != nil {
+					log.Printf("Jittering collection interval failed for plugin %s",
+						input.Name)
+				} else {
+					time.Sleep(d)
+				}
+			}
+
 			if err := input.Input.Gather(acc); err != nil {
 				log.Printf("Error in input [%s]: %s", input.Name, err)
 			}
@@ -143,7 +155,6 @@ func (a *Agent) gatherSeparate(
 
 		acc := NewAccumulator(input.Config, pointChan)
 		acc.SetDebug(a.Config.Agent.Debug)
-		// acc.SetPrefix(input.Name + "_")
 		acc.SetDefaultTags(a.Config.Tags)
 
 		if err := input.Input.Gather(acc); err != nil {
@@ -315,7 +326,7 @@ func jitterInterval(ininterval, injitter time.Duration) time.Duration {
 	outinterval := ininterval
 	if injitter.Nanoseconds() != 0 {
 		maxjitter := big.NewInt(injitter.Nanoseconds())
-		if j, err := rand.Int(rand.Reader, maxjitter); err == nil {
+		if j, err := cryptorand.Int(cryptorand.Reader, maxjitter); err == nil {
 			jitter = j.Int64()
 		}
 		outinterval = time.Duration(jitter + ininterval.Nanoseconds())
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index ca4972b69793f..e4d7fbc9df4a6 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -61,13 +61,22 @@ type AgentConfig struct {
 	//     ie, if Interval=10s then always collect on :00, :10, :20, etc.
 	RoundInterval bool
 
+	// CollectionJitter is used to jitter the collection by a random amount.
+	// Each plugin will sleep for a random time within jitter before collecting.
+	// This can be used to avoid many plugins querying things like sysfs at the
+	// same time, which can have a measurable effect on the system.
+	CollectionJitter internal.Duration
+
 	// Interval at which to flush data
 	FlushInterval internal.Duration
 
 	// FlushRetries is the number of times to retry each data flush
 	FlushRetries int
 
-	// FlushJitter tells
+	// FlushJitter Jitters the flush interval by a random amount.
+	// This is primarily to avoid large write spikes for users running a large
+	// number of telegraf instances.
+	// ie, a jitter of 5s and interval 10s means flushes will happen every 10-15s
 	FlushJitter internal.Duration
 
 	// TODO(cam): Remove UTC and Precision parameters, they are no longer
@@ -271,6 +280,11 @@ var header = `# Telegraf configuration
   # Rounds collection interval to 'interval'
   # ie, if interval="10s" then always collect on :00, :10, :20, etc.
   round_interval = true
+  # Collection jitter is used to jitter the collection by a random amount.
+  # Each plugin will sleep for a random time within jitter before collecting.
+  # This can be used to avoid many plugins querying things like sysfs at the
+  # same time, which can have a measurable effect on the system.
+  collection_jitter = "0s"
 
   # Default data flushing interval for all outputs. You should not set this below
   # interval. Maximum flush_interval will be flush_interval + flush_jitter