diff --git a/pkg/textparse/openmetricsparse.go b/pkg/textparse/openmetricsparse.go
index e3c09e97ea..565efd359d 100644
--- a/pkg/textparse/openmetricsparse.go
+++ b/pkg/textparse/openmetricsparse.go
@@ -306,11 +306,10 @@ func (p *OpenMetricsParser) Next() (Entry, error) {
 
 		t2 := p.nextToken()
 		if t2 == tBraceOpen {
-			offsets, err := p.parseLVals()
+			p.offsets, err = p.parseLVals(p.offsets)
 			if err != nil {
 				return EntryInvalid, err
 			}
-			p.offsets = append(p.offsets, offsets...)
 			p.series = p.l.b[p.start:p.l.i]
 			t2 = p.nextToken()
 		}
@@ -367,12 +366,12 @@ func (p *OpenMetricsParser) parseComment() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	var err error
 	// Parse the labels.
-	offsets, err := p.parseLVals()
+	p.eOffsets, err = p.parseLVals(p.eOffsets)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	p.eOffsets = append(p.eOffsets, offsets...)
 	p.exemplar = p.l.b[p.start:p.l.i]
 
 	// Get the value.
@@ -410,8 +409,7 @@ func (p *OpenMetricsParser) parseComment() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (p *OpenMetricsParser) parseLVals() ([]int, error) {
-	var offsets []int
+func (p *OpenMetricsParser) parseLVals(offsets []int) ([]int, error) {
 	first := true
 	for {
 		t := p.nextToken()
diff --git a/scrape/scrape.go b/scrape/scrape.go
index 5344e663ae..ad0d632a38 100644
--- a/scrape/scrape.go
+++ b/scrape/scrape.go
@@ -1390,6 +1390,7 @@ func (sl *scrapeLoop) append(app storage.Appender, b []byte, contentType string,
 		defTime        = timestamp.FromTime(ts)
 		appErrs        = appendErrors{}
 		sampleLimitErr error
+		e              exemplar.Exemplar // escapes to heap so hoisted out of loop
 	)
 
 	defer func() {
@@ -1406,7 +1407,6 @@ loop:
 		var (
 			et          textparse.Entry
 			sampleAdded bool
-			e           exemplar.Exemplar
 		)
 		if et, err = p.Next(); err != nil {
 			if err == io.EOF {
@@ -1513,6 +1513,7 @@ loop:
 				// Since exemplar storage is still experimental, we don't fail the scrape on ingestion errors.
 				level.Debug(sl.l).Log("msg", "Error while adding exemplar in AddExemplar", "exemplar", fmt.Sprintf("%+v", e), "err", exemplarErr)
 			}
+			e = exemplar.Exemplar{} // reset for next time round loop
 		}
 
 	}
diff --git a/scrape/scrape_test.go b/scrape/scrape_test.go
index fc2b51ab7d..9bff279c3d 100644
--- a/scrape/scrape_test.go
+++ b/scrape/scrape_test.go
@@ -929,10 +929,10 @@ test_metric 1
 	require.Equal(t, "", md.Unit)
 }
 
-func TestScrapeLoopSeriesAdded(t *testing.T) {
+func simpleTestScrapeLoop(t testing.TB) (context.Context, *scrapeLoop) {
 	// Need a full storage for correct Add/AddFast semantics.
 	s := teststorage.New(t)
-	defer s.Close()
+	t.Cleanup(func() { s.Close() })
 
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	sl := newScrapeLoop(ctx,
@@ -950,7 +950,13 @@ func TestScrapeLoopSeriesAdded(t *testing.T) {
 		0,
 		false,
 	)
-	defer cancel()
+	t.Cleanup(func() { cancel() })
+
+	return ctx, sl
+}
+
+func TestScrapeLoopSeriesAdded(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx, sl := simpleTestScrapeLoop(t)
 
 	slApp := sl.appender(ctx)
 	total, added, seriesAdded, err := sl.append(slApp, []byte("test_metric 1\n"), "", time.Time{})
@@ -969,6 +975,46 @@ func TestScrapeLoopSeriesAdded(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, 0, seriesAdded)
 }
 
+func makeTestMetrics(n int) []byte {
+	// Construct a metrics string to parse
+	sb := bytes.Buffer{}
+	for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
+		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "# TYPE metric_a gauge\n")
+		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "# HELP metric_a help text\n")
+		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "metric_a{foo=\"%d\",bar=\"%d\"} 1\n", i, i*100)
+	}
+	return sb.Bytes()
+}
+
+func BenchmarkScrapeLoopAppend(b *testing.B) {
+	ctx, sl := simpleTestScrapeLoop(b)
+
+	slApp := sl.appender(ctx)
+	metrics := makeTestMetrics(100)
+	ts := time.Time{}
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		ts = ts.Add(time.Second)
+		_, _, _, _ = sl.append(slApp, metrics, "", ts)
+	}
+}
+func BenchmarkScrapeLoopAppendOM(b *testing.B) {
+	ctx, sl := simpleTestScrapeLoop(b)
+
+	slApp := sl.appender(ctx)
+	metrics := makeTestMetrics(100)
+	ts := time.Time{}
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		ts = ts.Add(time.Second)
+		_, _, _, _ = sl.append(slApp, metrics, "application/openmetrics-text", ts)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestScrapeLoopRunCreatesStaleMarkersOnFailedScrape(t *testing.T) {
 	appender := &collectResultAppender{}
 	var (