diff --git a/prometheus/testutil/testutil.go b/prometheus/testutil/testutil.go
index dc2ce22..9e0cd4b 100644
--- a/prometheus/testutil/testutil.go
+++ b/prometheus/testutil/testutil.go
@@ -27,6 +27,68 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus/internal"
 )
 
+// ToFloat64 collects all Metrics from the provided Collector. It expects that
+// this results in exactly one Metric being collected, which must be a Gauge,
+// Counter, or Untyped. In all other cases, ToFloat64 panics. ToFloat64 returns
+// the value of the collected Metric.
+//
+// The Collector provided is typically a simple instance of Gauge or Counter, or
+// – less commonly – a GaugeVec or CounterVec with exactly one element. But any
+// Collector fulfilling the prerequisites described above will do.
+//
+// Use this function with caution. It is computationally very expensive and thus
+// not suited at all to read values from Metrics in regular code. This is really
+// only for testing purposes, and even for testing, other approaches are often
+// more appropriate (see this package's documentation).
+//
+// A clear anti-pattern would be to use a metric type from the prometheus
+// package to track values that are also needed for something else than the
+// exposition of Prometheus metrics. For example, you would like to track the
+// number of items in a queue because your code should reject queuing further
+// items if a certain limit is reached. It is tempting to track the number of
+// items in a prometheus.Gauge, as it is then easily available as a metric for
+// exposition, too. However, then you would need to call ToFloat64 in your
+// regular code, potentially quite often. The recommended way is to track the
+// number of items conventionally (in the way you would have done it without
+// considering Prometheus metrics) and then expose the number with a
+// prometheus.GaugeFunc.
+func ToFloat64(c prometheus.Collector) float64 {
+	var (
+		m      prometheus.Metric
+		mCount int
+		mChan  = make(chan prometheus.Metric)
+		done   = make(chan struct{})
+	)
+
+	go func() {
+		for m = range mChan {
+			mCount++
+		}
+		close(done)
+	}()
+
+	c.Collect(mChan)
+	close(mChan)
+	<-done
+
+	if mCount != 1 {
+		panic(fmt.Errorf("collected %d metrics instead of exactly 1", mCount))
+	}
+
+	pb := &dto.Metric{}
+	m.Write(pb)
+	if pb.Gauge != nil {
+		return pb.Gauge.GetValue()
+	}
+	if pb.Counter != nil {
+		return pb.Counter.GetValue()
+	}
+	if pb.Untyped != nil {
+		return pb.Untyped.GetValue()
+	}
+	panic(fmt.Errorf("collected a non-gauge/counter/untyped metric: %s", pb))
+}
+
 // CollectAndCompare registers the provided Collector with a newly created
 // pedantic Registry. It then does the same as GatherAndCompare, gathering the
 // metrics from the pedantic Registry.
diff --git a/prometheus/testutil/testutil_test.go b/prometheus/testutil/testutil_test.go
index b4e7b01..e25b130 100644
--- a/prometheus/testutil/testutil_test.go
+++ b/prometheus/testutil/testutil_test.go
@@ -20,6 +20,104 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 )
 
+type untypedCollector struct{}
+
+func (u untypedCollector) Describe(c chan<- *prometheus.Desc) {
+	c <- prometheus.NewDesc("name", "help", nil, nil)
+}
+
+func (u untypedCollector) Collect(c chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
+	c <- prometheus.MustNewConstMetric(
+		prometheus.NewDesc("name", "help", nil, nil),
+		prometheus.UntypedValue,
+		2001,
+	)
+}
+
+func TestToFloat64(t *testing.T) {
+	gaugeWithAValueSet := prometheus.NewGauge(prometheus.GaugeOpts{})
+	gaugeWithAValueSet.Set(3.14)
+
+	counterVecWithOneElement := prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{}, []string{"foo"})
+	counterVecWithOneElement.WithLabelValues("bar").Inc()
+
+	counterVecWithTwoElements := prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{}, []string{"foo"})
+	counterVecWithTwoElements.WithLabelValues("bar").Add(42)
+	counterVecWithTwoElements.WithLabelValues("baz").Inc()
+
+	histogramVecWithOneElement := prometheus.NewHistogramVec(prometheus.HistogramOpts{}, []string{"foo"})
+	histogramVecWithOneElement.WithLabelValues("bar").Observe(2.7)
+
+	scenarios := map[string]struct {
+		collector prometheus.Collector
+		panics    bool
+		want      float64
+	}{
+		"simple counter": {
+			collector: prometheus.NewCounter(prometheus.CounterOpts{}),
+			panics:    false,
+			want:      0,
+		},
+		"simple gauge": {
+			collector: prometheus.NewGauge(prometheus.GaugeOpts{}),
+			panics:    false,
+			want:      0,
+		},
+		"simple untyped": {
+			collector: untypedCollector{},
+			panics:    false,
+			want:      2001,
+		},
+		"simple histogram": {
+			collector: prometheus.NewHistogram(prometheus.HistogramOpts{}),
+			panics:    true,
+		},
+		"simple summary": {
+			collector: prometheus.NewSummary(prometheus.SummaryOpts{}),
+			panics:    true,
+		},
+		"simple gauge with an actual value set": {
+			collector: gaugeWithAValueSet,
+			panics:    false,
+			want:      3.14,
+		},
+		"counter vec with zero elements": {
+			collector: prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{}, nil),
+			panics:    true,
+		},
+		"counter vec with one element": {
+			collector: counterVecWithOneElement,
+			panics:    false,
+			want:      1,
+		},
+		"counter vec with two elements": {
+			collector: counterVecWithTwoElements,
+			panics:    true,
+		},
+		"histogram vec with one element": {
+			collector: histogramVecWithOneElement,
+			panics:    true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for n, s := range scenarios {
+		t.Run(n, func(t *testing.T) {
+			defer func() {
+				r := recover()
+				if r == nil && s.panics {
+					t.Error("expected panic")
+				} else if r != nil && !s.panics {
+					t.Error("unexpected panic: ", r)
+				}
+				// Any other combination is the expected outcome.
+			}()
+			if got := ToFloat64(s.collector); got != s.want {
+				t.Errorf("want %f, got %f", s.want, got)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestCollectAndCompare(t *testing.T) {
 	const metadata = `
 		# HELP some_total A value that represents a counter.