tcmalloc
Ranked 4 of 4 memory allocators by recommenders
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.
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.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 64%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fast runtime performance
“tc was among the fastest in runtime while being very space efficient”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “Comparison of Malloc() Algorithms” “When it comes to performance, the Google's tcmalloc is unconquered.”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “Jemalloc un-abandoned by Meta” “found (modern) tcmalloc to consistently win in time and space”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “Jemalloc un-abandoned by Meta” Space efficient memory use
“tc was among the fastest in runtime while being very space efficient”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “Comparison of Malloc() Algorithms” “found (modern) tcmalloc to consistently win in time and space”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “Jemalloc un-abandoned by Meta” Comparable to jemalloc
“Tcmalloc and jemalloc were neck to neck when comparing app metrics”
Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “Jemalloc un-abandoned by Meta” “they never seem to differ by more than a few percent”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “Jemalloc un-abandoned by Meta”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Little gain over jemalloc
“Tcmalloc and jemalloc were neck to neck when comparing app metrics”
Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “Jemalloc un-abandoned by Meta” “they never seem to differ by more than a few percent”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “Jemalloc un-abandoned by Meta” Not enough for huge runtimes
“A TCMalloc runtime is almost the same size as Java's most sophisticated GC, and it still can't keep up”
Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “Zig: Pointer Stability for ArrayLists” “huge runtimes like TCMalloc help, but not enough”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “What Zig felt like, coming from Rust”
Other memory allocators people recommend
The three most recommended other memory allocators, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| jemalloc | 34 | 11 | 76% | 6 | 8 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| mimalloc | 22 | 7 | 76% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Bumpalo Rust crate | 8 | 2 | 80% | 5 | — | — |
| tcmallocThis page | 7 | 4 | 64% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“huge runtimes like TCMalloc help, but not enough”
“our tests with a proprietary app led us to tcmalloc (new)”
“tc was among the fastest in runtime while being very space efficient”
“A TCMalloc runtime is almost the same size as Java's most sophisticated GC, and it still can't keep up”
“Having a not-dogshit allocator really doesn't hurt.”
“the common solution is to use tcmalloc or jemalloc which hasnt these problems?”
“6.19 breaking tcmalloc and Mongo”
“Tcmalloc and jemalloc were neck to neck when comparing app metrics”
“tcmalloc is actually the only allocator I tested which was not using thread local caches”
“When it comes to performance, the Google's tcmalloc is unconquered.”
“they never seem to differ by more than a few percent”
“found (modern) tcmalloc to consistently win in time and space”
“probably the single worst way to experience huge pages”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.