diff --git a/internal/observabilityproxy/logsparams.go b/internal/observabilityproxy/logsparams.go
index c9fad47db..7be252998 100644
--- a/internal/observabilityproxy/logsparams.go
+++ b/internal/observabilityproxy/logsparams.go
@@ -179,6 +179,10 @@ func setStep(out, in url.Values, start, end time.Time, lim LogsLimits) *HTTPErro
 		}
 		step = max(min(d, span, lim.MaxRange/3), minStep)
 	}
+	// vlselect gets whole milliseconds; rounding down would add a bucket.
+	if r := step % time.Millisecond; r != 0 {
+		step += time.Millisecond - r
+	}
 	if span+2*step > lim.MaxRange {
 		start = end.Add(-max(lim.MaxRange-2*step, 0))
 	}
diff --git a/internal/observabilityproxy/logsparams_test.go b/internal/observabilityproxy/logsparams_test.go
index abfbc3483..c99639725 100644
--- a/internal/observabilityproxy/logsparams_test.go
+++ b/internal/observabilityproxy/logsparams_test.go
@@ -227,6 +227,12 @@ func TestBuildLogsParamsStepAndLimit(t *testing.T) {
 	if got := build(t, "stats_query_range", with(day, "step", "1w")).Get("step"); got != "86400000ms" {
 		t.Errorf("1w step on a day window = %s, want capped at the window", got)
 	}
+	if got := build(t, "hits", with(day, "step", "3600")).Get("step"); got != "3600000ms" {
+		t.Errorf("bare-seconds step = %s, want 3600000ms", got)
+	}
+	if got := build(t, "hits", with(day, "step", "5400.5")).Get("step"); got != "5400500ms" {
+		t.Errorf("fractional bare-seconds step = %s, want 5400500ms", got)
+	}
 	if got := build(t, "hits", day).Get("step"); got != "86400ms" {
 		t.Errorf("omitted step = %s, want the bucket-bounded minimum", got)
 	}
@@ -271,6 +277,7 @@ func TestBuildLogsParamsTail(t *testing.T) {
 		{"since in the future", url.Values{"since": {"2026-11-04T13:00:00Z"}}, "0ms"},
 		{"start_offset within cap", url.Values{"start_offset": {"2m"}}, "120000ms"},
 		{"start_offset over cap", url.Values{"start_offset": {"30d"}}, "900000ms"},
+		{"start_offset in bare seconds", url.Values{"start_offset": {"120"}}, "120000ms"},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
@@ -328,3 +335,20 @@ func TestBuildLogsParamsStepCannotWidenWindow(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestBuildLogsParamsStepKeepsBucketCap(t *testing.T) {
+	lim := testLimits()
+	// Spans that MaxBuckets does not divide into whole milliseconds.
+	for _, start := range []string{"2026-11-03T12:00:00.0007Z", "2026-11-04T11:59:58.3333Z", "6d23h59m59s"} {
+		out := build(t, "hits", url.Values{"start": {start}})
+		step, err := parseDuration(out.Get("step"))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		s, _ := time.Parse(time.RFC3339Nano, out.Get("start"))
+		e, _ := time.Parse(time.RFC3339Nano, out.Get("end"))
+		if buckets := (e.Sub(s) + step - 1) / step; int(buckets) > lim.MaxBuckets {
+			t.Errorf("start %s: step %s gives %d buckets, more than %d", start, out.Get("step"), buckets, lim.MaxBuckets)
+		}
+	}
+}