diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/ModelInsightsView.test.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/ModelInsightsView.test.tsx
index 36443e90b63..37d265c4e35 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/ModelInsightsView.test.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/ModelInsightsView.test.tsx
@@ -155,16 +155,16 @@ describe("ModelInsightsView", () => {
     render(<ModelInsightsView accessToken="token" />);
     await screen.findByText("fast-chat");
     const chart = screen.getByTestId("usage-chart");
-    const days = (Date.parse(response.end_date) - Date.parse(response.start_date)) / 86_400_000 + 1;
 
     expect(screen.getByRole("tab", { name: "Daily" })).toHaveAttribute("aria-selected", "true");
-    expect(chart).toHaveAttribute("data-buckets", String(days));
+    expect(chart).toHaveAttribute("data-buckets", "30");
+    expect(chart).toHaveAttribute("data-first", "2026-08-30");
     expect(screen.getByText("Daily tokens across your gateway")).toBeInTheDocument();
 
     await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole("tab", { name: "Weekly" }));
 
-    expect(chart).toHaveAttribute("data-buckets", String(Math.ceil(days / 7)));
-    expect(chart).toHaveAttribute("data-first", response.start_date);
+    expect(chart).toHaveAttribute("data-buckets", "12");
+    expect(chart).toHaveAttribute("data-first", "2026-07-13");
     expect(screen.getByText("Weekly tokens across your gateway")).toBeInTheDocument();
   });
 });
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/ModelInsightsView.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/ModelInsightsView.tsx
index 312c469903d..c946e8aabe0 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/ModelInsightsView.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/ModelInsightsView.tsx
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ export default function ModelInsightsView({ accessToken }: { accessToken: string
         </CardHeader>
         <CardContent>
           <ChartContainer config={chartConfig} className="h-[380px] w-full aspect-auto">
-            <BarChart data={series} margin={{ left: 8, right: 8 }} barCategoryGap={2}>
+            <BarChart data={series} margin={{ left: 8, right: 8 }} barCategoryGap="15%" maxBarSize={64}>
               <CartesianGrid vertical={false} />
               <XAxis dataKey="date" tickLine={false} axisLine={false} minTickGap={48} />
               <YAxis
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/modelInsightsData.test.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/modelInsightsData.test.ts
index 00397dd523c..fe164fb1b5e 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/modelInsightsData.test.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/modelInsightsData.test.ts
@@ -57,6 +57,37 @@ describe("buildSeries", () => {
       { date: "2026-01-03", a: 10 },
     ]);
   });
+
+  it("starts the chart at the first bucket with usage so bars stay wide on a long range", () => {
+    const rows = [row({ date: "2026-03-10", requests: 1 }), row({ date: "2026-03-20", requests: 2 })];
+    const daily = buildSeries(rows, ["a"], "requests", { start: "2025-03-21", end: "2026-03-20", granularity: "day" });
+    expect(daily[0]).toEqual({ date: "2026-02-19", a: 0 });
+    expect(daily).toHaveLength(30);
+    expect(daily.at(-1)).toEqual({ date: "2026-03-20", a: 2 });
+
+    const early = [row({ date: "2025-12-01", requests: 1 }), ...rows];
+    const fromFirstUse = buildSeries(early, ["a"], "requests", {
+      start: "2025-03-21",
+      end: "2026-03-20",
+      granularity: "day",
+    });
+    expect(fromFirstUse[0]).toEqual({ date: "2025-12-01", a: 1 });
+    expect(fromFirstUse.at(-1)?.date).toBe("2026-03-20");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps weekly buckets on the original grid when trimming idle weeks", () => {
+    const rows = [row({ date: "2026-03-20", requests: 3 })];
+    const weekly = buildSeries(rows, ["a"], "requests", {
+      start: "2025-03-21",
+      end: "2026-03-20",
+      granularity: "week",
+    });
+    expect(weekly).toHaveLength(12);
+    expect(weekly.map((week) => (Date.parse(String(week.date)) - Date.parse("2025-03-21")) % (7 * 86_400_000))).toEqual(
+      Array(12).fill(0),
+    );
+    expect(weekly.at(-1)).toEqual({ date: "2026-03-20", a: 3 });
+  });
 });
 
 describe("buildBucketTotals", () => {
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/modelInsightsData.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/modelInsightsData.ts
index e4e83d24362..0e1a5fa7aac 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/modelInsightsData.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/model-insights/_components/modelInsightsData.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ export type Granularity = "day" | "week";
 
 const DAY_MS = 86_400_000;
 const BUCKET_DAYS: Record<Granularity, number> = { day: 1, week: 7 };
+const MIN_VISIBLE_BUCKETS: Record<Granularity, number> = { day: 30, week: 12 };
 
 export const metricValue = (row: Usage, metric: Metric) => {
   if (metric === "requests") return row.requests;
@@ -85,7 +86,12 @@ export const buildSeries = (rows: DailyMetric[], models: string[], metric: Metri
     const bucket = buckets[Math.floor((toDay(row.date) - origin) / bucketMs)];
     if (bucket) bucket[row.model_group] = Number(bucket[row.model_group] ?? 0) + metricValue(row, metric);
   }
-  return buckets;
+  const firstActive = buckets.findIndex((bucket) => models.some((model) => Number(bucket[model]) > 0));
+  const visibleFrom = Math.min(
+    firstActive === -1 ? buckets.length : firstActive,
+    buckets.length - MIN_VISIBLE_BUCKETS[window.granularity],
+  );
+  return buckets.slice(Math.max(0, visibleFrom));
 };
 
 export const buildBucketTotals = (totals: DailyTotal[], metric: Metric, window: SeriesWindow) => {