# tcmalloc 7 Hacker News commenters recommended tcmalloc and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Google's memory allocator that people find fast and space efficient. Critics say it performs about the same as jemalloc, and note poor huge-page behavior. ## Why people recommend it - Fast runtime performance (3 comments): "tc was among the fastest in runtime while being very space efficient" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740448)) "When it comes to performance, the Google's tcmalloc is unconquered." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47404792)) "found (modern) tcmalloc to consistently win in time and space" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47403847)) - Space efficient memory use (2 comments): "tc was among the fastest in runtime while being very space efficient" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740448)) "found (modern) tcmalloc to consistently win in time and space" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47403847)) - Comparable to jemalloc (2 comments): "Tcmalloc and jemalloc were neck to neck when comparing app metrics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47415980)) "they never seem to differ by more than a few percent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47403943)) ## What people warn about - Little gain over jemalloc (2 comments): "Tcmalloc and jemalloc were neck to neck when comparing app metrics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47415980)) "they never seem to differ by more than a few percent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47403943)) - Not enough for huge runtimes (2 comments): "A TCMalloc runtime is almost the same size as Java's most sophisticated GC, and it still can't keep up" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49522372)) "huge runtimes like TCMalloc help, but not enough" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49768022)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [jemalloc](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jemalloc.md): 34 recommend - [mimalloc](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mimalloc.md): 22 recommend - [Bumpalo Rust crate](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bumpalo.md): 8 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "tcmalloc", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tcmalloc/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).