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AProf is a Java memory allocation profiler with very low performance impact on the profiled application.

Origin and Goal

Java VM has an option -Xaprof printing how many instances of classes were allocated during lifetime of the application and how much memory they occupied in total and per instance. The option has no performance impact due to the fact that counting takes place during garbage collection. The only drawbacks are occasional overflows of counters and the absence of any information on locations where the object allocations take place.

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• collecting information on locations where the object allocations take place. 
• providing an accurate profiling results.
• having very low performance impact (to be safely used in production environments).

When to use AProf

AProf should be used when the application spends a lot of time in garbage collection. Due to the specifics of Java VM, objects are allocated so fast that CPU profilers are unable to pinpoint the allocation hotspot. The only way is to use memory allocation profilers.

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