diff --git a/libstats/socket/Android.bp b/libstats/socket/Android.bp
index bd3d9ae..94c405d 100644
--- a/libstats/socket/Android.bp
+++ b/libstats/socket/Android.bp
@@ -47,3 +47,23 @@
     export_include_dirs: ["include"],
     host_supported: true,
 }
+
+cc_benchmark {
+    name: "libstatssocket_benchmark",
+    srcs: [
+        "benchmark/main.cpp",
+        "benchmark/stats_event_benchmark.cpp",
+    ],
+    cflags: [
+        "-Wall",
+        "-Werror",
+    ],
+    static_libs: [
+        "libstatssocket",
+    ],
+    shared_libs: [
+        "libcutils",
+        "liblog",
+        "libgtest_prod",
+    ],
+}
diff --git a/libstats/socket/benchmark/main.cpp b/libstats/socket/benchmark/main.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ebdf6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libstats/socket/benchmark/main.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2019 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include <benchmark/benchmark.h>
+
+BENCHMARK_MAIN();
diff --git a/libstats/socket/benchmark/stats_event_benchmark.cpp b/libstats/socket/benchmark/stats_event_benchmark.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b487c4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libstats/socket/benchmark/stats_event_benchmark.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2019 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include "benchmark/benchmark.h"
+#include "stats_event.h"
+
+static struct stats_event* constructStatsEvent() {
+    struct stats_event* event = stats_event_obtain();
+    stats_event_set_atom_id(event, 100);
+
+    // randomly sample atom size
+    for (int i = 0; i < rand() % 800; i++) {
+        stats_event_write_int32(event, i);
+    }
+
+    return event;
+}
+
+static void BM_stats_event_truncate_buffer(benchmark::State& state) {
+    while (state.KeepRunning()) {
+        struct stats_event* event = constructStatsEvent();
+        stats_event_build(event);
+        stats_event_write(event);
+        stats_event_release(event);
+    }
+}
+
+BENCHMARK(BM_stats_event_truncate_buffer);
+
+static void BM_stats_event_full_buffer(benchmark::State& state) {
+    while (state.KeepRunning()) {
+        struct stats_event* event = constructStatsEvent();
+        stats_event_truncate_buffer(event, false);
+        stats_event_build(event);
+        stats_event_write(event);
+        stats_event_release(event);
+    }
+}
+
+BENCHMARK(BM_stats_event_full_buffer);
diff --git a/libstats/socket/include/stats_event.h b/libstats/socket/include/stats_event.h
index e7117d2..080e957 100644
--- a/libstats/socket/include/stats_event.h
+++ b/libstats/socket/include/stats_event.h
@@ -154,6 +154,9 @@
     uint32_t (*get_errors)(struct stats_event*);
 };
 
+// exposed for benchmarking only
+void stats_event_truncate_buffer(struct stats_event* event, bool truncate);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif  // __CPLUSPLUS
diff --git a/libstats/socket/stats_event.c b/libstats/socket/stats_event.c
index 4098434..551b392 100644
--- a/libstats/socket/stats_event.c
+++ b/libstats/socket/stats_event.c
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 #include <time.h>
 #include "stats_buffer_writer.h"
 
-#define STATS_EVENT_TAG 1937006964
 #define LOGGER_ENTRY_MAX_PAYLOAD 4068
 // Max payload size is 4 bytes less as 4 bytes are reserved for stats_eventTag.
 // See android_util_Stats_Log.cpp
@@ -39,13 +38,13 @@
 // The stats_event struct holds the serialized encoding of an event
 // within a buf. Also includes other required fields.
 struct stats_event {
-    uint8_t buf[MAX_EVENT_PAYLOAD];
+    uint8_t* buf;
     size_t lastFieldPos;  // location of last field within the buf
     size_t size;          // number of valid bytes within buffer
     uint32_t numElements;
     uint32_t atomId;
     uint32_t errors;
-    uint32_t tag;
+    bool truncate;
     bool built;
 };
 
@@ -58,12 +57,11 @@
 
 struct stats_event* stats_event_obtain() {
     struct stats_event* event = malloc(sizeof(struct stats_event));
-
-    memset(event->buf, 0, MAX_EVENT_PAYLOAD);
+    event->buf = (uint8_t*)calloc(MAX_EVENT_PAYLOAD, 1);
     event->buf[0] = OBJECT_TYPE;
     event->atomId = 0;
     event->errors = 0;
-    event->tag = STATS_EVENT_TAG;
+    event->truncate = true;  // truncate for both pulled and pushed atoms
     event->built = false;
 
     // place the timestamp
@@ -79,6 +77,7 @@
 }
 
 void stats_event_release(struct stats_event* event) {
+    free(event->buf);
     free(event);
 }
 
@@ -297,6 +296,10 @@
     return event->errors;
 }
 
+void stats_event_truncate_buffer(struct stats_event* event, bool truncate) {
+    event->truncate = truncate;
+}
+
 void stats_event_build(struct stats_event* event) {
     if (event->built) return;
 
@@ -317,6 +320,10 @@
         event->size = POS_FIRST_FIELD + sizeof(uint8_t) + sizeof(uint32_t);
     }
 
+    // Truncate the buffer to the appropriate length in order to limit our
+    // memory usage.
+    if (event->truncate) event->buf = (uint8_t*)realloc(event->buf, event->size);
+
     event->built = true;
 }