diff --git a/hrpc/call.go b/hrpc/call.go
index dce27561..5644a17f 100644
--- a/hrpc/call.go
+++ b/hrpc/call.go
@@ -238,6 +238,14 @@ func cellFromCellBlock(b []byte) (*pb.Cell, uint32, error) {
 
 	value := b[:valueLen]
 
+	// clone []byte values into new slice, so as not to retain any of
+	// the passed in memory.
+	c := make([]byte, len(key)+len(family)+len(qualifier)+len(value))
+	key, c = append(c[:0], key...), c[len(key):]
+	family, c = append(c[:0], family...), c[len(family):]
+	qualifier, c = append(c[:0], qualifier...), c[len(qualifier):]
+	value = append(c[:0], value...)
+
 	return &pb.Cell{
 		Row:       key,
 		Family:    family,
diff --git a/hrpc/call_test.go b/hrpc/call_test.go
index ed710e4f..63542fce 100644
--- a/hrpc/call_test.go
+++ b/hrpc/call_test.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ package hrpc
 
 import (
 	"reflect"
+	"slices"
 	"strconv"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -19,7 +20,9 @@ func TestCellFromCellBlock(t *testing.T) {
 		102, 97, 0, 0, 1, 92, 13, 97, 5, 32, 4, 72, 101, 108, 108, 111, 32, 109, 121, 32, 110,
 		97, 109, 101, 32, 105, 115, 32, 68, 111, 103, 46}
 
-	cell, n, err := cellFromCellBlock(cellblock)
+	clonedCellblock := slices.Clone(cellblock)
+
+	cell, n, err := cellFromCellBlock(clonedCellblock)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
@@ -40,6 +43,15 @@ func TestCellFromCellBlock(t *testing.T) {
 	if !proto.Equal(expectedCell, cell) {
 		t.Errorf("expected cell %v, got cell %v", expectedCell, cell)
 	}
+	for i := range clonedCellblock {
+		// Modify the values of clonedCellblock, it should not affect
+		// the value of cell.
+		clonedCellblock[i] = 0
+	}
+	if !proto.Equal(expectedCell, cell) {
+		t.Errorf("After modifying input, cell should not have changed. "+
+			"expected %v, got cell %v", expectedCell, cell)
+	}
 
 	// test error cases
 	for i := range cellblock {
diff --git a/hrpc/hrpc_test.go b/hrpc/hrpc_test.go
index 79a10fc2..c6d5da2d 100644
--- a/hrpc/hrpc_test.go
+++ b/hrpc/hrpc_test.go
@@ -1694,3 +1694,27 @@ func BenchmarkMutateToProtoWithNestedMaps(b *testing.B) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func BenchmarkDeserializeCellBlocks(b *testing.B) {
+	b.Run("1", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+		for range b.N {
+			res, _, err := deserializeCellBlocks(cellblock, 1)
+			if len(res) != 1 || err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("len(res): %d err: %v", len(res), err)
+			}
+		}
+	})
+
+	cellblock100 := bytes.Repeat(cellblock, 100)
+	b.Run("100", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+		for range b.N {
+			res, _, err := deserializeCellBlocks(cellblock100, 100)
+			if len(res) != 100 || err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("len(res): %d err: %v", len(res), err)
+			}
+		}
+	})
+
+}
diff --git a/region/client.go b/region/client.go
index 0c334978..ed4e4ac9 100644
--- a/region/client.go
+++ b/region/client.go
@@ -103,12 +103,8 @@ const (
 var bufferPool sync.Pool
 
 func newBuffer(size int) []byte {
-	v := bufferPool.Get()
-	var b []byte
-	if v != nil {
-		b = v.([]byte)
-	}
-	return append(b[:0], make([]byte, size)...)
+	b, _ := bufferPool.Get().([]byte)
+	return append(b, make([]byte, size)...)
 }
 
 func freeBuffer(b []byte) {
@@ -477,7 +473,8 @@ func (c *client) receive(r io.Reader) (err error) {
 	}
 
 	size := binary.BigEndian.Uint32(sz[:])
-	b := make([]byte, size)
+	b := newBuffer(int(size))
+	defer freeBuffer(b)
 
 	_, err = io.ReadFull(r, b)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -546,6 +543,7 @@ func (c *client) receive(r io.Reader) (err error) {
 		b := b[size-cellsLen:]
 		if c.compressor != nil {
 			b, err = c.compressor.decompressCellblocks(b)
+			defer freeBuffer(b)
 			if err != nil {
 				err = RetryableError{fmt.Errorf("failed to decompress the response: %s", err)}
 				return
diff --git a/region/client_test.go b/region/client_test.go
index a66ef773..ce64369f 100644
--- a/region/client_test.go
+++ b/region/client_test.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/tsuna/gohbase/compression/snappy"
 	"github.com/tsuna/gohbase/hrpc"
 	"github.com/tsuna/gohbase/pb"
 	"github.com/tsuna/gohbase/test"
@@ -1318,3 +1319,231 @@ func BenchmarkSendScanRequest(b *testing.B) {
 		}
 	})
 }
+
+func makeResponse(callID uint32, response proto.Message, cellblocks []byte,
+	compressor *compressor) []byte {
+	b := make([]byte, 4) // Reserve 4 bytes for size
+	header := &pb.ResponseHeader{
+		CallId: proto.Uint32(callID),
+	}
+	if len(cellblocks) > 0 {
+		if compressor != nil {
+			cellblocks = compressor.compressCellblocks(
+				net.Buffers{cellblocks}, uint32(len(cellblocks)))
+		}
+
+		header.CellBlockMeta = &pb.CellBlockMeta{Length: proto.Uint32(uint32(len(cellblocks)))}
+	}
+
+	b = protowire.AppendVarint(b, uint64(proto.Size(header)))
+	var err error
+	b, err = proto.MarshalOptions{}.MarshalAppend(b, header)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	b = protowire.AppendVarint(b, uint64(proto.Size(response)))
+	b, err = proto.MarshalOptions{}.MarshalAppend(b, response)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	b = append(b, cellblocks...)
+
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(b[:4], uint32(len(b)-4))
+	return b
+}
+
+func cellblockLen(rowLen, familyLen, qualifierLen, valueLen int) int {
+	keyLength := 2 + rowLen + 1 + familyLen + qualifierLen + 8 + 1
+	keyValueLength := 4 + 4 + keyLength + valueLen
+	return 4 + keyValueLength
+}
+
+// Copied from hrpc/mutate.go
+func appendCellblock(row []byte, family, qualifier string, value []byte, ts uint64, typ byte,
+	cbs []byte) []byte {
+	// cellblock layout:
+	//
+	// Header:
+	// 4 byte length of key + value
+	// 4 byte length of key
+	// 4 byte length of value
+	//
+	// Key:
+	// 2 byte length of row
+	// <row>
+	// 1 byte length of row family
+	// <family>
+	// <qualifier>
+	// 8 byte timestamp
+	// 1 byte type
+	//
+	// Value:
+	// <value>
+	keylength := 2 + len(row) + 1 + len(family) + len(qualifier) + 8 + 1
+	valuelength := len(value)
+
+	keyvaluelength := 4 + 4 + keylength + valuelength
+	i := len(cbs)
+	cbs = append(cbs, make([]byte,
+		cellblockLen(len(row), len(family), len(qualifier), len(value)))...)
+
+	// Header:
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(cbs[i:], uint32(keyvaluelength))
+	i += 4
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(cbs[i:], uint32(keylength))
+	i += 4
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(cbs[i:], uint32(valuelength))
+	i += 4
+
+	// Key:
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint16(cbs[i:], uint16(len(row)))
+	i += 2
+	i += copy(cbs[i:], row)
+	cbs[i] = byte(len(family))
+	i++
+	i += copy(cbs[i:], family)
+	i += copy(cbs[i:], qualifier)
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint64(cbs[i:], ts)
+	i += 8
+	cbs[i] = typ
+	i++
+
+	// Value:
+	copy(cbs[i:], value)
+
+	return cbs
+}
+
+type fakeConn struct {
+	net.Conn
+}
+
+func (fakeConn) SetReadDeadline(t time.Time) error { return nil }
+
+func BenchmarkReceive(b *testing.B) {
+	c := client{
+		conn:       fakeConn{},
+		sent:       make(map[uint32]hrpc.Call),
+		compressor: &compressor{snappy.New()},
+	}
+
+	reader := bytes.NewReader(nil)
+	put, err := hrpc.NewPutStr(context.Background(), "table", "key",
+		map[string]map[string][]byte{"cf": {"a": []byte("1")}})
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// Simple puts have an empty response
+	resp := makeResponse(1, &pb.MutateResponse{}, nil, nil)
+
+	b.Run("mutate", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+		for range b.N {
+			// Set read buffer to the encoded response
+			reader.Reset(resp)
+			// Put the RPC in the sent map so that it can be found by
+			// receive
+			c.sent[1] = put
+			if err := c.receive(reader); err != nil {
+				b.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			// Consume the result so that this same request can be
+			// reused on the next iteration
+			<-put.ResultChan()
+		}
+	})
+
+	multi := newMulti(100)
+	multiResp := &pb.MultiResponse{
+		RegionActionResult: []*pb.RegionActionResult{{}},
+	}
+	calls := make([]hrpc.Call, 0, 100)
+	for i := range 100 {
+		put, err := hrpc.NewPutStr(context.Background(), "table", "key",
+			map[string]map[string][]byte{"cf": {"a": []byte("1")}})
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		calls = append(calls, put)
+
+		multiResp.RegionActionResult[0].ResultOrException = append(
+			multiResp.RegionActionResult[0].ResultOrException,
+			&pb.ResultOrException{
+				Index:  proto.Uint32(uint32(i + 1)),
+				Result: &pb.Result{},
+			},
+		)
+	}
+
+	multi.add(calls)
+	resp = makeResponse(1, multiResp, nil, nil)
+
+	b.Run("multiMutate100", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+		for range b.N {
+			reader.Reset(resp)
+			if multi.len() != 100 {
+				b.Fatalf("unexpected len: %d", multi.len())
+			}
+			c.sent[1] = multi
+			if err := c.receive(reader); err != nil {
+				b.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			// Consume the results so that this same request can
+			// be reused on the next iteration
+			for _, c := range calls {
+				<-c.ResultChan()
+			}
+			// Need to do this on every iteration because
+			// returnResults on a multi resets the fields of multi
+			multi.add(calls)
+		}
+	})
+
+	scan, err := hrpc.NewScanStr(context.Background(), "table")
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	cell := appendCellblock(
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("0123456789"), 5), // 50-byte key
+		"f",
+		string(bytes.Repeat([]byte("9876543210"), 2)), // 20-byte qualifier
+		bytes.Repeat([]byte("abcdefghij"), 20),        // 200-byte value
+		17356887651735688765,
+		byte(pb.CellType_PUT),
+		nil)
+	const twoMiB = 2 * 1024 * 1024
+	cellCount := twoMiB / len(cell)
+	cells := bytes.Repeat(cell, cellCount)
+
+	scanResponse := &pb.ScanResponse{
+		// TODO: Should this be 1 result with cellCount cells, or
+		// cellCount results each with 1 cell?
+		CellsPerResult:       []uint32{uint32(cellCount)},
+		PartialFlagPerResult: []bool{false},
+	}
+	resp = makeResponse(1, scanResponse, cells, c.compressor)
+	b.Logf("Size of cells: %d Count of cells: %d Size of resp: %d",
+		len(cells), cellCount, len(resp))
+
+	b.Run("scanResult2MBwithCompression", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+		for range b.N {
+			// Set read buffer to the encoded response
+			reader.Reset(resp)
+			// Put the RPC in the sent map so that it can be found by
+			// receive
+			c.sent[1] = scan
+			if err := c.receive(reader); err != nil {
+				b.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			// Consume the result so that this same request can be
+			// reused on the next iteration
+			<-scan.ResultChan()
+		}
+
+	})
+}
diff --git a/region/compressor.go b/region/compressor.go
index a71b9ffa..e22e0b44 100644
--- a/region/compressor.go
+++ b/region/compressor.go
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ func readUint32(b []byte) (uint32, []byte, error) {
 func (c *compressor) decompressCellblocks(b []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 	var (
 		err                  error
-		out                  []byte
+		out                  = newBuffer(0) // gets freed in receive
 		compressedChunk      []byte
 		compressedChunkLen   uint32
 		uncompressedBlockLen uint32