diff --git a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index edfce35dbb82..20bcd934d791 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v6.0.0-beta2...master[Check the HEAD di
 - Fix kubernetes events module to be able to index time fields properly. {issue}5093[5093]
 - The MongoDB module now connects on each fetch, to avoid stopping the whole Metricbeat instance if MongoDB is not up when starting. {pull}5120[5120]
 - Fixed `cmd_set` and `cmd_get` being mixed in the Memcache module. {pull}5189[5189]
+- Change field type of http header from nested to object {pull}5258[5258]
 
 *Packetbeat*
 
diff --git a/metricbeat/docs/fields.asciidoc b/metricbeat/docs/fields.asciidoc
index 3a8ce9d82778..a9138878fb12 100644
--- a/metricbeat/docs/fields.asciidoc
+++ b/metricbeat/docs/fields.asciidoc
@@ -4039,7 +4039,7 @@ HTTP request information
 [float]
 === `http.request.header`
 
-type: nested
+type: object
 
 The HTTP headers sent
 
@@ -4070,7 +4070,7 @@ HTTP response information
 [float]
 === `http.response.header`
 
-type: nested
+type: object
 
 The HTTP headers received
 
diff --git a/metricbeat/docs/modules/http.asciidoc b/metricbeat/docs/modules/http.asciidoc
index 46cd1f66aaa8..523fcdfbdbf5 100644
--- a/metricbeat/docs/modules/http.asciidoc
+++ b/metricbeat/docs/modules/http.asciidoc
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ This module is inspired by the Logstash https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash
 
 This is often necessary in security restricted network setups, where Logstash is not able to reach all servers. Instead the server to be monitored itself has Metricbeat installed and can send the data or a collector server has Metricbeat installed which is deployed in the secured network environment and can reach all servers to be monitored.
 
+NOTE: As the HTTP mertricsets also fetch headers, this can lead to lots of fields in Elasticsearch in case there are many different headers. If this is the case for you and you don't need the headers, we recommend to use processors to filter out the header field.
+
 
 [float]
 === Example configuration
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/http/_meta/docs.asciidoc b/metricbeat/module/http/_meta/docs.asciidoc
index 3fd08235c2a9..100525148968 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/http/_meta/docs.asciidoc
+++ b/metricbeat/module/http/_meta/docs.asciidoc
@@ -7,3 +7,5 @@ Multiple endpoints can be configured which are polled in a regular interval and
 This module is inspired by the Logstash https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-inputs-http_poller.html[http_poller] input filter but doesn't require that the endpoint is reachable by Logstash as the Metricbeat module pushes the data to the configured output channels, e.g. Logstash or Elasticsearch.
 
 This is often necessary in security restricted network setups, where Logstash is not able to reach all servers. Instead the server to be monitored itself has Metricbeat installed and can send the data or a collector server has Metricbeat installed which is deployed in the secured network environment and can reach all servers to be monitored.
+
+NOTE: As the HTTP mertricsets also fetch headers, this can lead to lots of fields in Elasticsearch in case there are many different headers. If this is the case for you and you don't need the headers, we recommend to use processors to filter out the header field.
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/http/_meta/fields.yml b/metricbeat/module/http/_meta/fields.yml
index d158a5e62378..5f7601685634 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/http/_meta/fields.yml
+++ b/metricbeat/module/http/_meta/fields.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
               HTTP request information
           fields:
             - name: header
-              type: nested
+              type: object
               description: >
                 The HTTP headers sent
             - name: method
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
               HTTP response information
           fields:
             - name: header
-              type: nested
+              type: object
               description: >
                 The HTTP headers received
             - name: status_code