diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 49aeeb50e..a60dea169 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## unreleased
+
+* [BUGFIX] PromQL: Only return "possible non-counter" annotation when `rate` returns points. #14910
+
 ## 3.0.0-beta.0 / 2024-09-05
 
 Release 3.0.0-beta.0 includes new features such as a brand new UI and UTF-8 support enabled by default. As a new major version, several breaking changes are introduced. The breaking changes are mainly around the removal of deprecated feature flags and CLI arguments, and the full list can be found below. Most users should be able to try this release out of the box without any configuration changes.
diff --git a/promql/engine.go b/promql/engine.go
index 865343681..983e01666 100644
--- a/promql/engine.go
+++ b/promql/engine.go
@@ -1742,9 +1742,8 @@ func (ev *evaluator) eval(ctx context.Context, expr parser.Expr) (parser.Value,
 			ev.samplesStats.UpdatePeak(ev.currentSamples)
 
 			if e.Func.Name == "rate" || e.Func.Name == "increase" {
-				samples := inMatrix[0]
-				metricName := samples.Metric.Get(labels.MetricName)
-				if metricName != "" && len(samples.Floats) > 0 &&
+				metricName := inMatrix[0].Metric.Get(labels.MetricName)
+				if metricName != "" && len(ss.Floats) > 0 &&
 					!strings.HasSuffix(metricName, "_total") &&
 					!strings.HasSuffix(metricName, "_sum") &&
 					!strings.HasSuffix(metricName, "_count") &&
diff --git a/promql/engine_test.go b/promql/engine_test.go
index 94fa8d0b4..e4171eb5b 100644
--- a/promql/engine_test.go
+++ b/promql/engine_test.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -3708,3 +3709,75 @@ histogram {{sum:4 count:4 buckets:[2 2]}} {{sum:6 count:6 buckets:[3 3]}} {{sum:
 		},
 	})
 }
+
+func TestRateAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := map[string]struct {
+		data                       string
+		expr                       string
+		expectedWarningAnnotations []string
+		expectedInfoAnnotations    []string
+	}{
+		"info annotation when two samples are selected": {
+			data: `
+				series 1 2
+			`,
+			expr:                       "rate(series[1m1s])",
+			expectedWarningAnnotations: []string{},
+			expectedInfoAnnotations: []string{
+				`PromQL info: metric might not be a counter, name does not end in _total/_sum/_count/_bucket: "series" (1:6)`,
+			},
+		},
+		"no info annotations when no samples": {
+			data: `
+				series
+			`,
+			expr:                       "rate(series[1m1s])",
+			expectedWarningAnnotations: []string{},
+			expectedInfoAnnotations:    []string{},
+		},
+		"no info annotations when selecting one sample": {
+			data: `
+				series 1 2
+			`,
+			expr:                       "rate(series[10s])",
+			expectedWarningAnnotations: []string{},
+			expectedInfoAnnotations:    []string{},
+		},
+		"no info annotations when no samples due to mixed data types": {
+			data: `
+				series{label="a"} 1 {{schema:1 sum:15 count:10 buckets:[1 2 3]}}
+			`,
+			expr: "rate(series[1m1s])",
+			expectedWarningAnnotations: []string{
+				`PromQL warning: encountered a mix of histograms and floats for metric name "series" (1:6)`,
+			},
+			expectedInfoAnnotations: []string{},
+		},
+		"no info annotations when selecting two native histograms": {
+			data: `
+				series{label="a"} {{schema:1 sum:10 count:5 buckets:[1 2 3]}} {{schema:1 sum:15 count:10 buckets:[1 2 3]}}
+			`,
+			expr:                       "rate(series[1m1s])",
+			expectedWarningAnnotations: []string{},
+			expectedInfoAnnotations:    []string{},
+		},
+	}
+	for name, testCase := range testCases {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			store := promqltest.LoadedStorage(t, "load 1m\n"+strings.TrimSpace(testCase.data))
+			t.Cleanup(func() { _ = store.Close() })
+
+			engine := newTestEngine(t)
+			query, err := engine.NewInstantQuery(context.Background(), store, nil, testCase.expr, timestamp.Time(0).Add(1*time.Minute))
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			t.Cleanup(query.Close)
+
+			res := query.Exec(context.Background())
+			require.NoError(t, res.Err)
+
+			warnings, infos := res.Warnings.AsStrings(testCase.expr, 0, 0)
+			testutil.RequireEqual(t, testCase.expectedWarningAnnotations, warnings)
+			testutil.RequireEqual(t, testCase.expectedInfoAnnotations, infos)
+		})
+	}
+}