diff --git a/pkg/kgo/broker.go b/pkg/kgo/broker.go
index 61504414b667..0eae9a6bcbd7 100644
--- a/pkg/kgo/broker.go
+++ b/pkg/kgo/broker.go
@@ -285,6 +285,18 @@ func (b *broker) handleReqs() {
 	}
 }
 
+// bufPool is used to reuse issued-request buffers across writes to brokers.
+type bufPool struct{ p *sync.Pool }
+
+func newBufPool() bufPool {
+	return bufPool{
+		p: &sync.Pool{New: func() interface{} { r := make([]byte, 1<<10); return &r }},
+	}
+}
+
+func (p bufPool) get() []byte  { return (*p.p.Get().(*[]byte))[:0] }
+func (p bufPool) put(b []byte) { p.p.Put(&b) }
+
 // loadConection returns the broker's connection, creating it if necessary
 // and returning an error of if that fails.
 func (b *broker) loadConnection(reqKey int16) (*brokerCxn, error) {
@@ -305,6 +317,7 @@ func (b *broker) loadConnection(reqKey int16) (*brokerCxn, error) {
 	}
 
 	cxn := &brokerCxn{
+		bufPool:  b.cl.bufPool,
 		conn:     conn,
 		clientID: b.cl.cfg.id,
 		saslCtx:  b.cl.ctx,
@@ -343,8 +356,8 @@ type brokerCxn struct {
 	mechanism sasl.Mechanism
 	expiry    time.Time
 
-	// reqBuf, corrID, and clientID are used in writing requests.
-	reqBuf   []byte
+	// bufPool, corrID, and clientID are used in writing requests.
+	bufPool  bufPool
 	corrID   int32
 	clientID *string
 
@@ -496,10 +509,17 @@ func (cxn *brokerCxn) doSasl(authenticate bool) error {
 		var challenge []byte
 
 		if !authenticate {
-			cxn.reqBuf = append(cxn.reqBuf[:0], 0, 0, 0, 0)
-			binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(cxn.reqBuf, uint32(len(clientWrite)))
-			cxn.reqBuf = append(cxn.reqBuf, clientWrite...)
-			if _, err = cxn.conn.Write(cxn.reqBuf); err != nil {
+
+			buf := cxn.bufPool.get()
+
+			buf = append(buf[:0], 0, 0, 0, 0)
+			binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(buf, uint32(len(clientWrite)))
+			buf = append(buf, clientWrite...)
+			_, err = cxn.conn.Write(buf)
+
+			cxn.bufPool.put(buf)
+
+			if err != nil {
 				return ErrConnDead
 			}
 			if challenge, err = readConn(cxn.conn); err != nil {
@@ -556,13 +576,14 @@ func (cxn *brokerCxn) doSasl(authenticate bool) error {
 // writeRequest writes a message request to the broker connection, bumping the
 // connection's correlation ID as appropriate for the next write.
 func (cxn *brokerCxn) writeRequest(req kmsg.Request) (int32, error) {
-	cxn.reqBuf = kmsg.AppendRequest(
-		cxn.reqBuf[:0],
+	buf := cxn.bufPool.get()
+	buf = kmsg.AppendRequest(
+		buf[:0],
 		req,
 		cxn.corrID,
 		cxn.clientID,
 	)
-	if _, err := cxn.conn.Write(cxn.reqBuf); err != nil {
+	if _, err := cxn.conn.Write(buf); err != nil {
 		return 0, ErrConnDead
 	}
 	id := cxn.corrID
diff --git a/pkg/kgo/client.go b/pkg/kgo/client.go
index 29a13d473a1d..722eb6844786 100644
--- a/pkg/kgo/client.go
+++ b/pkg/kgo/client.go
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ type Client struct {
 	anyBrokerIdx int
 	stopBrokers  bool // set to true on close to stop updateBrokers
 
+	bufPool bufPool // for to brokers to share underlying reusable request buffers
+
 	controllerID int32 // atomic
 
 	producer producer
@@ -106,6 +108,8 @@ func NewClient(opts ...Opt) (*Client, error) {
 		controllerID: unknownControllerID,
 		brokers:      make(map[int32]*broker),
 
+		bufPool: newBufPool(),
+
 		decompressor: newDecompressor(),
 
 		coordinators:      make(map[coordinatorKey]int32),