diff --git a/pkg/kgo/config.go b/pkg/kgo/config.go
index 92ebeaa3..8113d35a 100644
--- a/pkg/kgo/config.go
+++ b/pkg/kgo/config.go
@@ -151,6 +151,8 @@ type cfg struct {
 	partitions map[string]map[int32]Offset // partitions to directly consume from
 	regex      bool
 
+	recordsPool recordsPool
+
 	////////////////////////////
 	// CONSUMER GROUP SECTION //
 	////////////////////////////
@@ -1347,6 +1349,18 @@ func ConsumeRegex() ConsumerOpt {
 	return consumerOpt{func(cfg *cfg) { cfg.regex = true }}
 }
 
+// EnableRecordsPool sets the client to obtain the *kgo.Record objects from a pool,
+// in order to minimize the number of allocations.
+//
+// By enabling this option, the records returned by PollFetches/PollRecords
+// can be sent back to the pool via Reuse method in order to be recycled.
+//
+// This option is particularly useful for use cases where the volume of generated records is very high,
+// as it can negatively impact performance due to the extra GC overhead.
+func EnableRecordsPool() ConsumerOpt {
+	return consumerOpt{func(cfg *cfg) { cfg.recordsPool = newRecordsPool() }}
+}
+
 // DisableFetchSessions sets the client to not use fetch sessions (Kafka 1.0+).
 //
 // A "fetch session" is is a way to reduce bandwidth for fetch requests &
diff --git a/pkg/kgo/record_and_fetch.go b/pkg/kgo/record_and_fetch.go
index 4f1ebe6f..44765169 100644
--- a/pkg/kgo/record_and_fetch.go
+++ b/pkg/kgo/record_and_fetch.go
@@ -149,6 +149,19 @@ type Record struct {
 	// producer hooks. It can also be set in a consumer hook to propagate
 	// enrichment to consumer clients.
 	Context context.Context
+
+	// recordsPool is the pool that this record was fetched from, if any.
+	//
+	// When reused, record is returned to this pool.
+	recordsPool recordsPool
+}
+
+// Reuse releases the record back to the pool.
+//
+// Once this method has been called, any reference to the passed record should be considered invalid by the caller,
+// as it may be reused as a result of future calls to the PollFetches/PollRecords method.
+func (r *Record) Reuse() {
+	r.recordsPool.put(r)
 }
 
 func (r *Record) userSize() int64 {
diff --git a/pkg/kgo/source.go b/pkg/kgo/source.go
index 0c475d14..f7e267bd 100644
--- a/pkg/kgo/source.go
+++ b/pkg/kgo/source.go
@@ -16,6 +16,29 @@ import (
 	"github.com/twmb/franz-go/pkg/kmsg"
 )
 
+type recordsPool struct{ p *sync.Pool }
+
+func newRecordsPool() recordsPool {
+	return recordsPool{
+		p: &sync.Pool{New: func() any { return &Record{} }},
+	}
+}
+
+func (p recordsPool) get() *Record {
+	if p.p == nil {
+		return &Record{}
+	}
+	return p.p.Get().(*Record)
+}
+
+func (p recordsPool) put(r *Record) {
+	if p.p == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	*r = Record{} // zero out the record
+	p.p.Put(r)
+}
+
 type readerFrom interface {
 	ReadFrom([]byte) error
 }
@@ -1068,7 +1091,7 @@ func (s *source) handleReqResp(br *broker, req *fetchRequest, resp *kmsg.FetchRe
 				continue
 			}
 
-			fp := partOffset.processRespPartition(br, rp, s.cl.decompressor, s.cl.cfg.hooks)
+			fp := partOffset.processRespPartition(br, rp, s.cl.decompressor, s.cl.cfg.hooks, s.cl.cfg.recordsPool)
 			if fp.Err != nil {
 				if moving := kmove.maybeAddFetchPartition(resp, rp, partOffset.from); moving {
 					strip(topic, partition, fp.Err)
@@ -1245,7 +1268,7 @@ func (s *source) handleReqResp(br *broker, req *fetchRequest, resp *kmsg.FetchRe
 
 // processRespPartition processes all records in all potentially compressed
 // batches (or message sets).
-func (o *cursorOffsetNext) processRespPartition(br *broker, rp *kmsg.FetchResponseTopicPartition, decompressor *decompressor, hooks hooks) FetchPartition {
+func (o *cursorOffsetNext) processRespPartition(br *broker, rp *kmsg.FetchResponseTopicPartition, decompressor *decompressor, hooks hooks, recordsPool recordsPool) FetchPartition {
 	fp := FetchPartition{
 		Partition:        rp.Partition,
 		Err:              kerr.ErrorForCode(rp.ErrorCode),
@@ -1377,7 +1400,7 @@ func (o *cursorOffsetNext) processRespPartition(br *broker, rp *kmsg.FetchRespon
 		case *kmsg.RecordBatch:
 			m.CompressedBytes = len(t.Records) // for record batches, we only track the record batch length
 			m.CompressionType = uint8(t.Attributes) & 0b0000_0111
-			m.NumRecords, m.UncompressedBytes = o.processRecordBatch(&fp, t, aborter, decompressor)
+			m.NumRecords, m.UncompressedBytes = o.processRecordBatch(&fp, t, aborter, decompressor, recordsPool)
 		}
 
 		if m.UncompressedBytes == 0 {
@@ -1458,6 +1481,7 @@ func (o *cursorOffsetNext) processRecordBatch(
 	batch *kmsg.RecordBatch,
 	aborter aborter,
 	decompressor *decompressor,
+	recordsPool recordsPool,
 ) (int, int) {
 	if batch.Magic != 2 {
 		fp.Err = fmt.Errorf("unknown batch magic %d", batch.Magic)
@@ -1508,6 +1532,7 @@ func (o *cursorOffsetNext) processRecordBatch(
 			fp.Partition,
 			batch,
 			&krecords[i],
+			recordsPool,
 		)
 		o.maybeKeepRecord(fp, record, abortBatch)
 
@@ -1753,6 +1778,7 @@ func recordToRecord(
 	partition int32,
 	batch *kmsg.RecordBatch,
 	record *kmsg.Record,
+	recordsPool recordsPool,
 ) *Record {
 	h := make([]RecordHeader, 0, len(record.Headers))
 	for _, kv := range record.Headers {
@@ -1761,19 +1787,20 @@ func recordToRecord(
 			Value: kv.Value,
 		})
 	}
+	r := recordsPool.get()
+
+	r.Key = record.Key
+	r.Value = record.Value
+	r.Headers = h
+	r.Topic = topic
+	r.Partition = partition
+	r.Attrs = RecordAttrs{uint8(batch.Attributes)}
+	r.ProducerID = batch.ProducerID
+	r.ProducerEpoch = batch.ProducerEpoch
+	r.LeaderEpoch = batch.PartitionLeaderEpoch
+	r.Offset = batch.FirstOffset + int64(record.OffsetDelta)
+	r.recordsPool = recordsPool
 
-	r := &Record{
-		Key:           record.Key,
-		Value:         record.Value,
-		Headers:       h,
-		Topic:         topic,
-		Partition:     partition,
-		Attrs:         RecordAttrs{uint8(batch.Attributes)},
-		ProducerID:    batch.ProducerID,
-		ProducerEpoch: batch.ProducerEpoch,
-		LeaderEpoch:   batch.PartitionLeaderEpoch,
-		Offset:        batch.FirstOffset + int64(record.OffsetDelta),
-	}
 	if r.Attrs.TimestampType() == 0 {
 		r.Timestamp = timeFromMillis(batch.FirstTimestamp + record.TimestampDelta64)
 	} else {