diff --git a/app/vlogsgenerator/main.go b/app/vlogsgenerator/main.go
index 516201a78..c91ba7be7 100644
--- a/app/vlogsgenerator/main.go
+++ b/app/vlogsgenerator/main.go
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ func generateLogsAtTimestamp(bw *bufio.Writer, workerID int, ts int64, firstStre
 	for i := 0; i < activeStreams; i++ {
 		ip := toIPv4(rand.Uint32())
 		uuid := toUUID(rand.Uint64(), rand.Uint64())
-		fmt.Fprintf(bw, `{"_time":%q,"_msg":"message for the stream %d and worker %d; ip=%s; uuid=%s; u64=%d","host":"host_%d","worker_id":"%d"`,
+		fmt.Fprintf(bw, `{"_time":"%s","_msg":"message for the stream %d and worker %d; ip=%s; uuid=%s; u64=%d","host":"host_%d","worker_id":"%d"`,
 			timeStr, streamID, workerID, ip, uuid, rand.Uint64(), streamID, workerID)
 		fmt.Fprintf(bw, `,"run_id":"%s"`, runID)
 		for j := 0; j < *constFieldsPerLog; j++ {
diff --git a/app/vmagent/main.go b/app/vmagent/main.go
index 26c77dbf3..302fbc831 100644
--- a/app/vmagent/main.go
+++ b/app/vmagent/main.go
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
+
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/csvimport"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/datadogsketches"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmagent/datadogv1"
@@ -42,7 +44,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/common"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/firehose"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/pushmetrics"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -450,7 +452,7 @@ func requestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 		var bb bytesutil.ByteBuffer
 		promscrape.WriteConfigData(&bb)
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"success","data":{"yaml":%q}}`, bb.B)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"success","data":{"yaml":%s}}`, stringsutil.JSONString(string(bb.B)))
 		return true
 	case "/prometheus/-/reload", "/-/reload":
 		if !httpserver.CheckAuthFlag(w, r, reloadAuthKey) {
diff --git a/app/vminsert/main.go b/app/vminsert/main.go
index e5c639654..f3bed07be 100644
--- a/app/vminsert/main.go
+++ b/app/vminsert/main.go
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/common"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/firehose"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/storage"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -343,7 +344,7 @@ func RequestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 		var bb bytesutil.ByteBuffer
 		promscrape.WriteConfigData(&bb)
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"success","data":{"yaml":%q}}`, bb.B)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"success","data":{"yaml":%s}}`, stringsutil.JSONString(string(bb.B)))
 		return true
 	case "/prometheus/-/reload", "/-/reload":
 		if !httpserver.CheckAuthFlag(w, r, reloadAuthKey) {
diff --git a/app/vmselect/promql/active_queries.go b/app/vmselect/promql/active_queries.go
index ccad4170f..776d63146 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/promql/active_queries.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/promql/active_queries.go
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 )
 
 // ActiveQueriesHandler returns response to /api/v1/status/active_queries
@@ -23,8 +25,8 @@ func ActiveQueriesHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"ok","data":[`)
 	for i, aqe := range aqes {
 		d := now.Sub(aqe.startTime)
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"duration":"%.3fs","id":"%016X","remote_addr":%s,"query":%q,"start":%d,"end":%d,"step":%d}`,
-			d.Seconds(), aqe.qid, aqe.quotedRemoteAddr, aqe.q, aqe.start, aqe.end, aqe.step)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"duration":"%.3fs","id":"%016X","remote_addr":%s,"query":%s,"start":%d,"end":%d,"step":%d}`,
+			d.Seconds(), aqe.qid, aqe.quotedRemoteAddr, stringsutil.JSONString(aqe.q), aqe.start, aqe.end, aqe.step)
 		if i+1 < len(aqes) {
 			fmt.Fprintf(w, `,`)
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmselect/querystats/querystats.go b/app/vmselect/querystats/querystats.go
index 26ce3834c..59ac05699 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/querystats/querystats.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/querystats/querystats.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -74,13 +75,13 @@ func initQueryStats() {
 }
 
 func (qst *queryStatsTracker) writeJSONQueryStats(w io.Writer, topN int, maxLifetime time.Duration) {
-	fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"topN":"%d","maxLifetime":%q,`, topN, maxLifetime)
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"topN":"%d","maxLifetime":"%s",`, topN, maxLifetime)
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, `"search.queryStats.lastQueriesCount":%d,`, *lastQueriesCount)
-	fmt.Fprintf(w, `"search.queryStats.minQueryDuration":%q,`, *minQueryDuration)
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, `"search.queryStats.minQueryDuration":"%s",`, *minQueryDuration)
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, `"topByCount":[`)
 	topByCount := qst.getTopByCount(topN, maxLifetime)
 	for i, r := range topByCount {
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"query":%q,"timeRangeSeconds":%d,"count":%d}`, r.query, r.timeRangeSecs, r.count)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"query":%s,"timeRangeSeconds":%d,"count":%d}`, stringsutil.JSONString(r.query), r.timeRangeSecs, r.count)
 		if i+1 < len(topByCount) {
 			fmt.Fprintf(w, `,`)
 		}
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ func (qst *queryStatsTracker) writeJSONQueryStats(w io.Writer, topN int, maxLife
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, `],"topByAvgDuration":[`)
 	topByAvgDuration := qst.getTopByAvgDuration(topN, maxLifetime)
 	for i, r := range topByAvgDuration {
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"query":%q,"timeRangeSeconds":%d,"avgDurationSeconds":%.3f,"count":%d}`, r.query, r.timeRangeSecs, r.duration.Seconds(), r.count)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"query":%s,"timeRangeSeconds":%d,"avgDurationSeconds":%.3f,"count":%d}`, stringsutil.JSONString(r.query), r.timeRangeSecs, r.duration.Seconds(), r.count)
 		if i+1 < len(topByAvgDuration) {
 			fmt.Fprintf(w, `,`)
 		}
@@ -96,7 +97,7 @@ func (qst *queryStatsTracker) writeJSONQueryStats(w io.Writer, topN int, maxLife
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, `],"topBySumDuration":[`)
 	topBySumDuration := qst.getTopBySumDuration(topN, maxLifetime)
 	for i, r := range topBySumDuration {
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"query":%q,"timeRangeSeconds":%d,"sumDurationSeconds":%.3f,"count":%d}`, r.query, r.timeRangeSecs, r.duration.Seconds(), r.count)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"query":%s,"timeRangeSeconds":%d,"sumDurationSeconds":%.3f,"count":%d}`, stringsutil.JSONString(r.query), r.timeRangeSecs, r.duration.Seconds(), r.count)
 		if i+1 < len(topBySumDuration) {
 			fmt.Fprintf(w, `,`)
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmstorage/main.go b/app/vmstorage/main.go
index b7fe762e2..d496310f9 100644
--- a/app/vmstorage/main.go
+++ b/app/vmstorage/main.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/mergeset"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/querytracer"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/storage"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/syncwg"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/timeutil"
 )
@@ -308,9 +309,9 @@ func RequestHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) bool {
 			return true
 		}
 		if prometheusCompatibleResponse {
-			fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"success","data":{"name":%q}}`, snapshotPath)
+			fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"success","data":{"name":%s}}`, stringsutil.JSONString(snapshotPath))
 		} else {
-			fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"ok","snapshot":%q}`, snapshotPath)
+			fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"ok","snapshot":%s}`, stringsutil.JSONString(snapshotPath))
 		}
 		return true
 	case "/list":
@@ -636,5 +637,6 @@ func writeStorageMetrics(w io.Writer, strg *storage.Storage) {
 func jsonResponseError(w http.ResponseWriter, err error) {
 	logger.Errorf("%s", err)
 	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
-	fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"error","msg":%q}`, err)
+	errStr := err.Error()
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, `{"status":"error","msg":%s}`, stringsutil.JSONString(errStr))
 }
diff --git a/lib/httpserver/httpserver.go b/lib/httpserver/httpserver.go
index c3078d72d..fe64ad03e 100644
--- a/lib/httpserver/httpserver.go
+++ b/lib/httpserver/httpserver.go
@@ -20,14 +20,16 @@ import (
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
+	"github.com/klauspost/compress/gzhttp"
+	"github.com/valyala/fastrand"
+
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/appmetrics"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/fasttime"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/flagutil"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/netutil"
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
-	"github.com/klauspost/compress/gzhttp"
-	"github.com/valyala/fastrand"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -533,7 +535,7 @@ func GetQuotedRemoteAddr(r *http.Request) string {
 		remoteAddr += ", X-Forwarded-For: " + addr
 	}
 	// quote remoteAddr and X-Forwarded-For, since they may contain untrusted input
-	return strconv.Quote(remoteAddr)
+	return stringsutil.JSONString(remoteAddr)
 }
 
 type responseWriterWithAbort struct {
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/config_test.go b/lib/promscrape/config_test.go
index bd4a39c44..369053e18 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/config_test.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/config_test.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package promscrape
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"reflect"
-	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -13,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promscrape/discovery/gce"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promutils"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/proxy"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 )
 
 func TestMergeLabels(t *testing.T) {
@@ -432,7 +432,7 @@ scrape_configs:
 
 // String returns human-readable representation for sw.
 func (sw *ScrapeWork) String() string {
-	return strconv.Quote(sw.key())
+	return stringsutil.JSONString(sw.key())
 }
 
 func TestGetFileSDScrapeWorkSuccess(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/targetstatus.go b/lib/promscrape/targetstatus.go
index 2a74a3f69..742c7e305 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/targetstatus.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/targetstatus.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promrelabel"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promutils"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 )
 
 var maxDroppedTargets = flag.Int("promscrape.maxDroppedTargets", 10000, "The maximum number of droppedTargets to show at /api/v1/targets page. "+
@@ -261,21 +262,21 @@ func (tsm *targetStatusMap) WriteActiveTargetsJSON(w io.Writer) {
 		writeLabelsJSON(w, ts.sw.Config.OriginalLabels)
 		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"labels":`)
 		writeLabelsJSON(w, ts.sw.Config.Labels)
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"scrapePool":%q`, ts.sw.Config.Job())
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"scrapeUrl":%q`, ts.sw.Config.ScrapeURL)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"scrapePool":%s`, stringsutil.JSONString(ts.sw.Config.Job()))
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"scrapeUrl":%s`, stringsutil.JSONString(ts.sw.Config.ScrapeURL))
 		errMsg := ""
 		if ts.err != nil {
 			errMsg = ts.err.Error()
 		}
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"lastError":%q`, errMsg)
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"lastScrape":%q`, time.Unix(ts.scrapeTime/1000, (ts.scrapeTime%1000)*1e6).Format(time.RFC3339Nano))
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"lastError":%s`, stringsutil.JSONString(errMsg))
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"lastScrape":"%s"`, time.Unix(ts.scrapeTime/1000, (ts.scrapeTime%1000)*1e6).Format(time.RFC3339Nano))
 		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"lastScrapeDuration":%g`, (time.Millisecond * time.Duration(ts.scrapeDuration)).Seconds())
 		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"lastSamplesScraped":%d`, ts.samplesScraped)
 		state := "up"
 		if !ts.up {
 			state = "down"
 		}
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"health":%q}`, state)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, `,"health":%s}`, stringsutil.JSONString(state))
 		if i+1 < len(tss) {
 			fmt.Fprintf(w, `,`)
 		}
@@ -287,7 +288,7 @@ func writeLabelsJSON(w io.Writer, labels *promutils.Labels) {
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, `{`)
 	labelsList := labels.GetLabels()
 	for i, label := range labelsList {
-		fmt.Fprintf(w, "%q:%q", label.Name, label.Value)
+		fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s:%s", stringsutil.JSONString(label.Name), stringsutil.JSONString(label.Value))
 		if i+1 < len(labelsList) {
 			fmt.Fprintf(w, `,`)
 		}
diff --git a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/firehose/http.go b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/firehose/http.go
index a222e7279..4128a661d 100644
--- a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/firehose/http.go
+++ b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/firehose/http.go
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 )
 
 // WriteSuccessResponse writes success response for AWS Firehose request.
@@ -17,7 +19,7 @@ func WriteSuccessResponse(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	body := fmt.Sprintf(`{"requestId":%q,"timestamp":%d}`, requestID, time.Now().UnixMilli())
+	body := fmt.Sprintf(`{"requestId":%s,"timestamp":%d}`, stringsutil.JSONString(requestID), time.Now().UnixMilli())
 
 	h := w.Header()
 	h.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
diff --git a/lib/streamaggr/streamaggr_timing_test.go b/lib/streamaggr/streamaggr_timing_test.go
index 530ac9d6b..bb0d98afa 100644
--- a/lib/streamaggr/streamaggr_timing_test.go
+++ b/lib/streamaggr/streamaggr_timing_test.go
@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@ package streamaggr
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompbmarshal"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/stringsutil"
 )
 
 var benchOutputs = []string{
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ func benchmarkAggregatorsPush(b *testing.B, output string) {
 func newBenchAggregators(outputs []string, pushFunc PushFunc) *Aggregators {
 	outputsQuoted := make([]string, len(outputs))
 	for i := range outputs {
-		outputsQuoted[i] = strconv.Quote(outputs[i])
+		outputsQuoted[i] = stringsutil.JSONString(outputs[i])
 	}
 	config := fmt.Sprintf(`
 - match: http_requests_total
diff --git a/lib/stringsutil/json.go b/lib/stringsutil/json.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eb40def6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/stringsutil/json.go
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+package stringsutil
+
+import (
+	"github.com/valyala/quicktemplate"
+)
+
+// JSONString returns JSON-quoted s.
+func JSONString(s string) string {
+	return string(quicktemplate.AppendJSONString(nil, s, true))
+}
diff --git a/lib/stringsutil/json_test.go b/lib/stringsutil/json_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f2939b070
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/stringsutil/json_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package stringsutil
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestJSONString(t *testing.T) {
+	f := func(s, resultExpected string) {
+		t.Helper()
+
+		result := JSONString(s)
+		if result != resultExpected {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected result\ngot\n%s\nwant\n%s", result, resultExpected)
+		}
+	}
+
+	f(``, `""`)
+	f(`foo`, `"foo"`)
+	f("\n\b\f\t\"acЫВА'\\", `"\n\b\f\t\"acЫВА\u0027\\"`)
+}