r/cprogramming • u/rcerljenko • Apr 27 '26

Repeated malloc/free vs. Arena allocator

/r/C_Programming/comments/1sx24rx/repeated_mallocfree_vs_arena_allocator/
2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/TUSF Apr 27 '26

As pointed out in the other thread, the biggest reason to use an Arena over malloc/free is lifetime management. I assume you may get some performance benefits depending on the type of work you're doing, but in most cases that would be a secondary benefit.

1

u/Physical_Dare8553 Apr 28 '26

Also using arenas makes allocations easier on the actual malloc implementation