diff --git a/ddtrace/tracer/span.go b/ddtrace/tracer/span.go
index ebfa681fb3..9121075a7f 100644
--- a/ddtrace/tracer/span.go
+++ b/ddtrace/tracer/span.go
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ func takeStacktrace(n, skip uint) string {
 // setMeta sets a string tag. This method is not safe for concurrent use.
 func (s *span) setMeta(key, v string) {
 	if s.Meta == nil {
-		s.Meta = make(map[string]string, 1)
+		s.Meta = defaultMetaMap()
 	}
 	delete(s.Metrics, key)
 	switch key {
@@ -766,3 +766,7 @@ const (
 	keyUserScope     = "usr.scope"
 	keyUserSessionID = "usr.session_id"
 )
+
+func defaultMetaMap() map[string]string {
+	return make(map[string]string, 5)
+}
diff --git a/ddtrace/tracer/span_test.go b/ddtrace/tracer/span_test.go
index 51ff73f3fb..871af92a3f 100644
--- a/ddtrace/tracer/span_test.go
+++ b/ddtrace/tracer/span_test.go
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ func newSpan(name, service, resource string, spanID, traceID, parentID uint64) *
 		Name:     name,
 		Service:  service,
 		Resource: resource,
-		Meta:     map[string]string{},
+		Meta:     defaultMetaMap(),
 		Metrics:  map[string]float64{},
 		SpanID:   spanID,
 		TraceID:  traceID,
@@ -1012,7 +1012,7 @@ func BenchmarkSetTagString(b *testing.B) {
 
 	b.ResetTimer()
 	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		k := string(keys[i%len(keys)])
+		k := keys[i%len(keys)]
 		span.SetTag(k, "some text")
 	}
 }
@@ -1033,6 +1033,7 @@ func BenchmarkSetTagStringer(b *testing.B) {
 	span := newBasicSpan("bench.span")
 	keys := strings.Split("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ", "")
 	value := &stringer{}
+
 	b.ResetTimer()
 	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
 		k := keys[i%len(keys)]
@@ -1092,3 +1093,39 @@ func testConcurrentSpanSetTag(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	wg.Wait()
 }
+
+func BenchmarkSpanFinish(b *testing.B) {
+	tracer := newTracer(withTransport(newDefaultTransport()))
+	tracer.config.partialFlushEnabled = false
+	defer tracer.Stop()
+	span := tracer.newRootSpan("pylons.request", "pylons", "/")
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		span.finished = false
+		span.Finish()
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkConcurrentSpanSetTag(b *testing.B) {
+	span := newBasicSpan("root")
+	defer span.Finish()
+
+	wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
+	wg.Add(b.N)
+
+	// Preallocate goroutines to avoid benchmarking goroutine creation
+	pole := make(chan struct{})
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		go func() {
+			// Wait for all goroutines to start
+			<-pole
+			span.SetTag("key", "value")
+			wg.Done()
+		}()
+	}
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	close(pole)
+	wg.Wait()
+}
diff --git a/ddtrace/tracer/spantags.go b/ddtrace/tracer/spantags.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..33a3c0f8b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ddtrace/tracer/spantags.go
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// Unless explicitly stated otherwise all files in this repository are licensed
+// under the Apache License Version 2.0.
+// This product includes software developed at Datadog (https://www.datadoghq.com/).
+// Copyright 2024 Datadog, Inc.
+
+package tracer
diff --git a/ddtrace/tracer/spantags_test.go b/ddtrace/tracer/spantags_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fe7fcd875d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ddtrace/tracer/spantags_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+// Unless explicitly stated otherwise all files in this repository are licensed
+// under the Apache License Version 2.0.
+// This product includes software developed at Datadog (https://www.datadoghq.com/).
+// Copyright 2024 Datadog, Inc.
+
+package tracer
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"math/rand"
+	"strconv"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func BenchmarkSpanSetMeta(b *testing.B) {
+	r := rand.New(rand.NewSource(0))
+	distribution := newDistributionRand(
+		b,
+		// The probabilities represent the distribution of the number of tags
+		// that are set on a span as observed in our production intake at the time
+		// of writing this benchmark.
+		[]float64{0.01, 0.09, 0.4, 0.25, 0.15, 0.05, 0.04, 0.01},
+		[]float64{8.75, 14.59, 22.8, 31.2, 39.1, 43.5, 54.3, 70.0},
+	)
+	b.Run("baseline", func(b *testing.B) {
+		span := newBasicSpan("benchmark")
+		if span.Meta == nil {
+			b.Fatal("expected span.Meta to be non-nil")
+		}
+		b.ResetTimer()
+		b.ReportMetric(1.0, "tags/op")
+		for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+			span.setMeta("key", "value")
+		}
+	})
+	for v := range distribution.values {
+		metaSize := int(distribution.values[v])
+		name := fmt.Sprintf("random number of tags (meta size=%d)", metaSize)
+		b.Run(name, func(b *testing.B) {
+			// precompute the tags
+			tags := make([]string, 70)
+			for i := 0; i < len(tags); i++ {
+				tags[i] = strconv.Itoa(i)
+			}
+			// preallocate the spans and number of tags
+			spans := make([]struct {
+				span *span
+				n    int
+			}, b.N)
+			totalSpanTags := 0
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				spans[i].span = &span{
+					Meta: make(map[string]string, metaSize),
+				}
+				spans[i].n = int(distribution.generate(r))
+				totalSpanTags += spans[i].n
+			}
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			b.ReportMetric(float64(totalSpanTags/b.N), "tags/op")
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				s, nTags := spans[i].span, spans[i].n
+				for j := 0; j < nTags; j++ {
+					s.setMeta(tags[j], "value")
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// distributionRand is a helper for generating random numbers following
+// a given probability distribution. It implements the inverse transform
+// sampling method.
+type distributionRand struct {
+	b      *testing.B
+	cdf    []float64
+	values []float64
+}
+
+func newDistributionRand(b *testing.B, probabilities []float64, values []float64) *distributionRand {
+	b.Helper()
+	cdf := make([]float64, len(probabilities))
+	sum := 0.0
+	for i, p := range probabilities {
+		sum += p
+		cdf[i] = sum
+	}
+	return &distributionRand{
+		b:      b,
+		cdf:    cdf,
+		values: values,
+	}
+}
+
+func (d *distributionRand) generate(r *rand.Rand) float64 {
+	d.b.Helper()
+	u := r.Float64()
+	for i, c := range d.cdf {
+		if u <= c {
+			return d.values[i]
+		}
+	}
+	return d.values[len(d.values)-1]
+}