diff --git a/netkat/packet_set.h b/netkat/packet_set.h
index f11088f..8b24d51 100644
--- a/netkat/packet_set.h
+++ b/netkat/packet_set.h
@@ -343,10 +343,15 @@ class PacketSetManager {
 
   [[nodiscard]] std::string ToString(const DecisionNode& node) const;
 
-  // The page size of the `nodes_` vector: 64 MiB or ~ 67 MB.
-  // Chosen large enough to reduce the cost of dynamic allocation, and small
-  // enough to avoid excessive memory overhead.
-  static constexpr size_t kPageSize = (1 << 26) / sizeof(DecisionNode);
+  // The page size of the `nodes_` vector: 512 nodes, or 12 KiB.
+  // Chosen large enough to amortize the cost of dynamic allocation over
+  // hundreds of nodes, and small enough that pages stay below the malloc
+  // mmap/trim thresholds (typically 128 KiB): this way, short-lived managers
+  // recycle pages through the allocator's freelists instead of paying an
+  // mmap/munmap syscall pair per manager. A power of two so that indexing
+  // into the vector -- which is on the hot path of nearly every operation --
+  // compiles to shifts and masks rather than multiply sequences.
+  static constexpr size_t kPageSize = size_t{1} << 9;
 
   // The decision nodes forming the BDD-style DAG representation of packet sets.
   // `PacketSetHandle::node_index_` indexes into this vector.
diff --git a/netkat/packet_transformer.h b/netkat/packet_transformer.h
index 4c9c90d..ae9ab40 100644
--- a/netkat/packet_transformer.h
+++ b/netkat/packet_transformer.h
@@ -399,10 +399,15 @@ class PacketTransformerManager {
 
   [[nodiscard]] std::string ToString(const DecisionNode& node) const;
 
-  // The page size of the `nodes_` vector: 64 MiB or ~ 67 MB.
-  // Chosen large enough to reduce the cost of dynamic allocation, and small
-  // enough to avoid excessive memory overhead.
-  static constexpr size_t kPageSize = (1 << 26) / sizeof(DecisionNode);
+  // The page size of the `nodes_` vector: 256 nodes, or 16 KiB.
+  // Chosen large enough to amortize the cost of dynamic allocation over
+  // hundreds of nodes, and small enough that pages stay below the malloc
+  // mmap/trim thresholds (typically 128 KiB): this way, short-lived managers
+  // recycle pages through the allocator's freelists instead of paying an
+  // mmap/munmap syscall pair per manager. A power of two so that indexing
+  // into the vector -- which is on the hot path of nearly every operation --
+  // compiles to shifts and masks rather than multiply sequences.
+  static constexpr size_t kPageSize = size_t{1} << 8;
 
   // Helper functions to deal with DecisionNodes directly.
   // TODO(dilo): Is there a convenient way to either avoid these or avoid making