diff --git a/packages/SwingSet/src/controller.js b/packages/SwingSet/src/controller.js
index c7c3753a593..57abca464dc 100644
--- a/packages/SwingSet/src/controller.js
+++ b/packages/SwingSet/src/controller.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import path from 'path';
 import process from 'process';
 import re2 from 're2';
 import { performance } from 'perf_hooks';
-import { spawn } from 'child_process';
+import { spawn as ambientSpawn } from 'child_process';
 import { type as osType } from 'os';
 import { Worker } from 'worker_threads';
 import anylogger from 'anylogger';
@@ -46,9 +46,13 @@ function unhandledRejectionHandler(e) {
 
 /**
  * @param {{ moduleFormat: string, source: string }[]} bundles
- * @param {{ snapstorePath?: string, env: Record<string, string | undefined> }} opts
+ * @param {{
+ *   snapstorePath?: string,
+ *   spawn: typeof import('child_process').spawn
+ *   env: Record<string, string | undefined>,
+ * }} opts
  */
-export function makeStartXSnap(bundles, { snapstorePath, env }) {
+export function makeStartXSnap(bundles, { snapstorePath, env, spawn }) {
   /** @type { import('@agoric/xsnap/src/xsnap').XSnapOptions } */
   const xsnapOpts = {
     os: osType(),
@@ -79,8 +83,9 @@ export function makeStartXSnap(bundles, { snapstorePath, env }) {
   /**
    * @param {string} name
    * @param {(request: Uint8Array) => Promise<Uint8Array>} handleCommand
+   * @param { boolean } [metered]
    */
-  async function startXSnap(name, handleCommand) {
+  async function startXSnap(name, handleCommand, metered) {
     if (supervisorHash) {
       return snapStore.load(supervisorHash, async snapshot => {
         const xs = xsnap({ snapshot, name, handleCommand, ...xsnapOpts });
@@ -88,7 +93,8 @@ export function makeStartXSnap(bundles, { snapstorePath, env }) {
         return xs;
       });
     }
-    const worker = xsnap({ handleCommand, name, ...xsnapOpts });
+    const meterOpts = metered ? {} : { meteringLimit: 0 };
+    const worker = xsnap({ handleCommand, name, ...meterOpts, ...xsnapOpts });
 
     for (const bundle of bundles) {
       assert(
@@ -117,6 +123,7 @@ export function makeStartXSnap(bundles, { snapstorePath, env }) {
  *   slogFile?: string,
  *   testTrackDecref?: unknown,
  *   snapstorePath?: string,
+ *   spawn?: typeof import('child_process').spawn,
  *   env?: Record<string, string | undefined>
  * }} runtimeOptions
  */
@@ -137,6 +144,7 @@ export async function makeSwingsetController(
     slogCallbacks,
     slogFile,
     snapstorePath,
+    spawn = ambientSpawn,
   } = runtimeOptions;
   if (typeof Compartment === 'undefined') {
     throw Error('SES must be installed before calling makeSwingsetController');
@@ -271,7 +279,7 @@ export async function makeSwingsetController(
     // @ts-ignore assume supervisorBundle is set
     JSON.parse(hostStorage.get('supervisorBundle')),
   ];
-  const startXSnap = makeStartXSnap(bundles, { snapstorePath, env });
+  const startXSnap = makeStartXSnap(bundles, { snapstorePath, env, spawn });
 
   const kernelEndowments = {
     waitUntilQuiescent,
diff --git a/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/vatManager/manager-subprocess-xsnap.js b/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/vatManager/manager-subprocess-xsnap.js
index a579e306ed6..df0168a9e3a 100644
--- a/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/vatManager/manager-subprocess-xsnap.js
+++ b/packages/SwingSet/src/kernel/vatManager/manager-subprocess-xsnap.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ const decoder = new TextDecoder();
  *   allVatPowers: VatPowers,
  *   kernelKeeper: KernelKeeper,
  *   kernelSlog: KernelSlog,
- *   startXSnap: (name: string, handleCommand: SyncHandler) => Promise<XSnap>,
+ *   startXSnap: (name: string, handleCommand: SyncHandler, metered?: boolean) => Promise<XSnap>,
  *   testLog: (...args: unknown[]) => void,
  * }} tools
  * @returns { VatManagerFactory }
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ export function makeXsSubprocessFactory({
       virtualObjectCacheSize,
       enableDisavow,
       name,
+      metered,
     } = managerOptions;
     assert(
       !managerOptions.enableSetup,
@@ -101,7 +102,7 @@ export function makeXsSubprocessFactory({
     }
 
     // start the worker and establish a connection
-    const worker = await startXSnap(`${vatID}:${name}`, handleCommand);
+    const worker = await startXSnap(`${vatID}:${name}`, handleCommand, metered);
 
     /** @type { (item: Tagged) => Promise<CrankResults> } */
     async function issueTagged(item) {
diff --git a/packages/SwingSet/test/test-controller.js b/packages/SwingSet/test/test-controller.js
index 22b088eee0b..56c74d5e1b2 100644
--- a/packages/SwingSet/test/test-controller.js
+++ b/packages/SwingSet/test/test-controller.js
@@ -3,8 +3,14 @@
 import { test } from '../tools/prepare-test-env-ava';
 
 import path from 'path';
+import { spawn } from 'child_process';
 import { initSwingStore } from '@agoric/swing-store-simple';
-import { buildVatController, loadBasedir } from '../src/index';
+import {
+  buildVatController,
+  loadBasedir,
+  makeSwingsetController,
+} from '../src/index';
+import { initializeSwingset } from '../src/initializeSwingset';
 import { checkKT } from './util';
 
 function capdata(body, slots = []) {
@@ -117,6 +123,28 @@ test('XS bootstrap', async t => {
   );
 });
 
+test('static vats are unmetered on XS', async t => {
+  const hostStorage = initSwingStore().storage;
+  const config = await loadBasedir(
+    path.resolve(__dirname, 'basedir-controller-2'),
+  );
+  config.defaultManagerType = 'xs-worker';
+  await initializeSwingset(config, [], hostStorage);
+  const limited = [];
+  const c = await makeSwingsetController(
+    hostStorage,
+    {},
+    {
+      spawn(command, args, options) {
+        limited.push(args.includes('-l'));
+        return spawn(command, args, options);
+      },
+    },
+  );
+  t.deepEqual(c.dump().log, ['bootstrap called']);
+  t.deepEqual(limited, [false, false, false]);
+});
+
 test('validate config.defaultManagerType', async t => {
   const config = await loadBasedir(
     path.resolve(__dirname, 'basedir-controller-2'),
diff --git a/packages/xsnap/test/test-xs-perf.js b/packages/xsnap/test/test-xs-perf.js
index d2d36d626b9..1fd6a9d973b 100644
--- a/packages/xsnap/test/test-xs-perf.js
+++ b/packages/xsnap/test/test-xs-perf.js
@@ -71,6 +71,22 @@ test('meter details', async t => {
   t.is(meterType, 'xs-meter-7');
 });
 
+test('meter details are still available with no limit', async t => {
+  const opts = options();
+  const vat = xsnap({ ...opts, meteringLimit: 0 });
+  t.teardown(() => vat.terminate());
+  const result = await vat.evaluate(`
+  for (ix = 0; ix < 200; ix++) {
+  }
+  `);
+  const { meterUsage: meters } = result;
+  t.log(meters);
+  t.is(typeof meters.compute, 'number');
+  t.is(typeof meters.allocate, 'number');
+  t.true(meters.compute > 0);
+  t.true(meters.allocate > 0);
+});
+
 test('high resolution timer', async t => {
   const opts = options();
   const vat = xsnap(opts);