diff --git a/plugins/inputs/vsphere/endpoint.go b/plugins/inputs/vsphere/endpoint.go
index 63fe3eb03..98b308dfc 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/vsphere/endpoint.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/vsphere/endpoint.go
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ type metricEntry struct {
 	fields map[string]interface{}
 }
 
-type objectMap map[string]objectRef
+type objectMap map[string]*objectRef
 
 type objectRef struct {
 	name         string
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ type objectRef struct {
 func (e *Endpoint) getParent(obj *objectRef, res *resourceKind) (*objectRef, bool) {
 	if pKind, ok := e.resourceKinds[res.parent]; ok {
 		if p, ok := pKind.objects[obj.parentRef.Value]; ok {
-			return &p, true
+			return p, true
 		}
 	}
 	return nil, false
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ func (e *Endpoint) getMetricNameMap(ctx context.Context) (map[int32]string, erro
 	return names, nil
 }
 
-func (e *Endpoint) getMetadata(ctx context.Context, obj objectRef, sampling int32) (performance.MetricList, error) {
+func (e *Endpoint) getMetadata(ctx context.Context, obj *objectRef, sampling int32) (performance.MetricList, error) {
 	client, err := e.clientFactory.GetClient(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ func (e *Endpoint) simpleMetadataSelect(ctx context.Context, client *Client, res
 func (e *Endpoint) complexMetadataSelect(ctx context.Context, res *resourceKind, objects objectMap, metricNames map[int32]string) {
 	// We're only going to get metadata from maxMetadataSamples resources. If we have
 	// more resources than that, we pick maxMetadataSamples samples at random.
-	sampledObjects := make([]objectRef, len(objects))
+	sampledObjects := make([]*objectRef, len(objects))
 	i := 0
 	for _, obj := range objects {
 		sampledObjects[i] = obj
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ func (e *Endpoint) complexMetadataSelect(ctx context.Context, res *resourceKind,
 	instInfoMux := sync.Mutex{}
 	te := NewThrottledExecutor(e.Parent.DiscoverConcurrency)
 	for _, obj := range sampledObjects {
-		func(obj objectRef) {
+		func(obj *objectRef) {
 			te.Run(ctx, func() {
 				metrics, err := e.getMetadata(ctx, obj, res.sampling)
 				if err != nil {
@@ -573,8 +573,13 @@ func getDatacenters(ctx context.Context, e *Endpoint, filter *ResourceFilter) (o
 	}
 	m := make(objectMap, len(resources))
 	for _, r := range resources {
-		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = objectRef{
-			name: r.Name, ref: r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference(), parentRef: r.Parent, dcname: r.Name}
+		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = &objectRef{
+			name:         r.Name,
+			ref:          r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference(),
+			parentRef:    r.Parent,
+			dcname:       r.Name,
+			customValues: e.loadCustomAttributes(&r.ManagedEntity),
+		}
 	}
 	return m, nil
 }
@@ -613,8 +618,12 @@ func getClusters(ctx context.Context, e *Endpoint, filter *ResourceFilter) (obje
 				cache[r.Parent.Value] = p
 			}
 		}
-		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = objectRef{
-			name: r.Name, ref: r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference(), parentRef: p}
+		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = &objectRef{
+			name:         r.Name,
+			ref:          r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference(),
+			parentRef:    p,
+			customValues: e.loadCustomAttributes(&r.ManagedEntity),
+		}
 	}
 	return m, nil
 }
@@ -627,8 +636,12 @@ func getHosts(ctx context.Context, e *Endpoint, filter *ResourceFilter) (objectM
 	}
 	m := make(objectMap)
 	for _, r := range resources {
-		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = objectRef{
-			name: r.Name, ref: r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference(), parentRef: r.Parent}
+		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = &objectRef{
+			name:         r.Name,
+			ref:          r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference(),
+			parentRef:    r.Parent,
+			customValues: e.loadCustomAttributes(&r.ManagedEntity),
+		}
 	}
 	return m, nil
 }
@@ -693,30 +706,13 @@ func getVMs(ctx context.Context, e *Endpoint, filter *ResourceFilter) (objectMap
 			guest = cleanGuestID(r.Config.GuestId)
 			uuid = r.Config.Uuid
 		}
-		cvs := make(map[string]string)
-		if e.customAttrEnabled {
-			for _, cv := range r.Summary.CustomValue {
-				val := cv.(*types.CustomFieldStringValue)
-				if val.Value == "" {
-					continue
-				}
-				key, ok := e.customFields[val.Key]
-				if !ok {
-					e.Parent.Log.Warnf("Metadata for custom field %d not found. Skipping", val.Key)
-					continue
-				}
-				if e.customAttrFilter.Match(key) {
-					cvs[key] = val.Value
-				}
-			}
-		}
-		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = objectRef{
+		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = &objectRef{
 			name:         r.Name,
 			ref:          r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference(),
 			parentRef:    r.Runtime.Host,
 			guest:        guest,
 			altID:        uuid,
-			customValues: cvs,
+			customValues: e.loadCustomAttributes(&r.ManagedEntity),
 			lookup:       lookup,
 		}
 	}
@@ -740,12 +736,40 @@ func getDatastores(ctx context.Context, e *Endpoint, filter *ResourceFilter) (ob
 				url = info.Url
 			}
 		}
-		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = objectRef{
-			name: r.Name, ref: r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference(), parentRef: r.Parent, altID: url}
+		m[r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference().Value] = &objectRef{
+			name:         r.Name,
+			ref:          r.ExtensibleManagedObject.Reference(),
+			parentRef:    r.Parent,
+			altID:        url,
+			customValues: e.loadCustomAttributes(&r.ManagedEntity),
+		}
 	}
 	return m, nil
 }
 
+func (e *Endpoint) loadCustomAttributes(entity *mo.ManagedEntity) map[string]string {
+	if !e.customAttrEnabled {
+		return map[string]string{}
+	}
+	cvs := make(map[string]string)
+	for _, v := range entity.CustomValue {
+		cv, ok := v.(*types.CustomFieldStringValue)
+		if !ok {
+			e.Parent.Log.Warnf("Metadata for custom field %d not of string type. Skipping", cv.Key)
+			continue
+		}
+		key, ok := e.customFields[cv.Key]
+		if !ok {
+			e.Parent.Log.Warnf("Metadata for custom field %d not found. Skipping", cv.Key)
+			continue
+		}
+		if e.customAttrFilter.Match(key) {
+			cvs[key] = cv.Value
+		}
+	}
+	return cvs
+}
+
 // Close shuts down an Endpoint and releases any resources associated with it.
 func (e *Endpoint) Close() {
 	e.clientFactory.Close()
@@ -1054,7 +1078,7 @@ func (e *Endpoint) collectChunk(ctx context.Context, pqs []types.PerfQuerySpec,
 				e.Parent.Log.Errorf("MOID %s not found in cache. Skipping", moid)
 				continue
 			}
-			e.populateTags(&objectRef, resourceType, res, t, &v)
+			e.populateTags(objectRef, resourceType, res, t, &v)
 
 			nValues := 0
 			alignedInfo, alignedValues := alignSamples(em.SampleInfo, v.Value, interval)
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/vsphere/finder.go b/plugins/inputs/vsphere/finder.go
index 14f317df4..33ce90f5b 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/vsphere/finder.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/vsphere/finder.go
@@ -233,12 +233,12 @@ func init() {
 	}
 
 	addFields = map[string][]string{
-		"HostSystem": {"parent"},
+		"HostSystem": {"parent", "summary.customValue", "customValue"},
 		"VirtualMachine": {"runtime.host", "config.guestId", "config.uuid", "runtime.powerState",
-			"summary.customValue", "guest.net", "guest.hostName"},
-		"Datastore":              {"parent", "info"},
-		"ClusterComputeResource": {"parent"},
-		"Datacenter":             {"parent"},
+			"summary.customValue", "guest.net", "guest.hostName", "customValue"},
+		"Datastore":              {"parent", "info", "customValue"},
+		"ClusterComputeResource": {"parent", "customValue"},
+		"Datacenter":             {"parent", "customValue"},
 	}
 
 	containers = map[string]interface{}{