diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 651f5e1192e..75b2a6d28da 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - Remove deprecated structs/funcs from previous versions (#5131)
 - Do not set TraceProvider to global otel (#5138)
 - Remove deprecated funcs from otlpgrpc (#5144)
+- [exporter/otlp] Only retry on ResourceExhausted with retry info (#5145)
 
 ### 🚩 Deprecations 🚩
 
diff --git a/exporter/otlpexporter/otlp.go b/exporter/otlpexporter/otlp.go
index e8adbf44417..a0dcf7539cc 100644
--- a/exporter/otlpexporter/otlp.go
+++ b/exporter/otlpexporter/otlp.go
@@ -141,26 +141,30 @@ func processError(err error) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	// Now, this is this a real error.
+	// Now, this is a real error.
 
-	if !shouldRetry(st.Code()) {
-		// It is not a retryable error, we should not retry.
+	// Check if error is permanent, in which case we shouldn't ever retry.
+	if shouldNeverRetry(st) {
 		return consumererror.NewPermanent(err)
 	}
 
-	// Need to retry.
-
-	// Check if server returned throttling information.
+	// Check if server returned throttling information in retry info.
 	throttleDuration := getThrottleDuration(st)
 	if throttleDuration != 0 {
 		return exporterhelper.NewThrottleRetry(err, throttleDuration)
 	}
 
-	return err
+	// Check if we should retry even without retry info.
+	if shouldAlwaysRetry(st) {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Do not retry, treat as permanent.
+	return consumererror.NewPermanent(err)
 }
 
-func shouldRetry(code codes.Code) bool {
-	switch code {
+func shouldNeverRetry(status *status.Status) bool {
+	switch status.Code() {
 	case codes.Canceled,
 		codes.DeadlineExceeded,
 		codes.ResourceExhausted,
@@ -168,11 +172,18 @@ func shouldRetry(code codes.Code) bool {
 		codes.OutOfRange,
 		codes.Unavailable,
 		codes.DataLoss:
-		// These are retryable errors.
-		return true
+		return false
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+func shouldAlwaysRetry(status *status.Status) bool {
+	switch status.Code() {
+	case codes.ResourceExhausted:
+		return false
+	default:
+		return !shouldNeverRetry(status)
 	}
-	// Don't retry on any other code.
-	return false
 }
 
 func getThrottleDuration(status *status.Status) time.Duration {