diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index ab2f6dc5f..800bc93a2 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2034,6 +2034,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "pyo3",
  "regex",
  "serde",
+ "smallvec",
  "tracing",
  "unicode-width",
 ]
@@ -2064,6 +2065,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "regex",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
+ "smallvec",
  "testing_logger",
  "thiserror",
  "tracing",
@@ -3275,9 +3277,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "smallvec"
-version = "1.11.1"
+version = "1.11.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "942b4a808e05215192e39f4ab80813e599068285906cc91aa64f923db842bd5a"
+checksum = "4dccd0940a2dcdf68d092b8cbab7dc0ad8fa938bf95787e1b916b0e3d0e8e970"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "smawk"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b0b1eb6a8..500450e34 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ seahash = { version = "4.1.0" }
 serde = { version = "1.0.190" }
 serde_json = { version = "1.0.108" }
 sha2 = { version = "0.10.8" }
+smallvec = { version = "1.11.2" }
 tar = { version = "0.4.40" }
 target-lexicon = { version = "0.12.12" }
 tempfile = { version = "3.8.1" }
diff --git a/crates/pep440-rs/Cargo.toml b/crates/pep440-rs/Cargo.toml
index 4be33a51a..2029c1a6b 100644
--- a/crates/pep440-rs/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/pep440-rs/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ crate-type = ["rlib", "cdylib"]
 once_cell = { workspace = true }
 regex = { workspace = true }
 serde = { workspace = true, features = ["derive"], optional = true }
+smallvec = { workspace = true }
 tracing = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 unicode-width = { workspace = true }
 
diff --git a/crates/pep440-rs/src/version.rs b/crates/pep440-rs/src/version.rs
index f2b0dd145..c39fe8393 100644
--- a/crates/pep440-rs/src/version.rs
+++ b/crates/pep440-rs/src/version.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ use regex::Captures;
 use regex::Regex;
 #[cfg(feature = "serde")]
 use serde::{de, Deserialize, Deserializer, Serialize, Serializer};
+use smallvec::SmallVec;
 use std::cmp::{max, Ordering};
 #[cfg(feature = "pyo3")]
 use std::collections::hash_map::DefaultHasher;
@@ -269,7 +270,7 @@ pub struct Version {
     /// such a `1.2.3` in `4!1.2.3-a8.post9.dev1`
     ///
     /// Note that we drop the * placeholder by moving it to `Operator`
-    pub release: Vec<u32>,
+    pub release: SmallVec<[u32; 8]>,
     /// The [prerelease](https://peps.python.org/pep-0440/#pre-releases), i.e. alpha, beta or rc
     /// plus a number
     ///
@@ -328,7 +329,7 @@ impl PyVersion {
     /// Note that we drop the * placeholder by moving it to `Operator`
     #[getter]
     pub fn release(&self) -> Vec<u32> {
-        self.0.release.clone()
+        self.0.release.to_vec()
     }
     /// The [prerelease](https://peps.python.org/pep-0440/#pre-releases), i.e. alpha, beta or rc
     /// plus a number
@@ -445,7 +446,7 @@ impl Version {
     pub fn from_release(release: Vec<u32>) -> Self {
         Self {
             epoch: 0,
-            release,
+            release: SmallVec::from(release),
             pre: None,
             post: None,
             dev: None,
@@ -785,7 +786,7 @@ impl Version {
             .as_str()
             .split('.')
             .map(|segment| segment.parse::<u32>().map_err(|err| err.to_string()))
-            .collect::<Result<Vec<u32>, String>>()?;
+            .collect::<Result<SmallVec<[u32; 8]>, String>>()?;
 
         let star = captures.name("trailing_dot_star").is_some();
         if star {
diff --git a/crates/pep440-rs/src/version_specifier.rs b/crates/pep440-rs/src/version_specifier.rs
index e4f96b298..1a3efdc2b 100644
--- a/crates/pep440-rs/src/version_specifier.rs
+++ b/crates/pep440-rs/src/version_specifier.rs
@@ -566,6 +566,7 @@ pub fn parse_version_specifiers(spec: &str) -> Result<Vec<VersionSpecifier>, Pep
 mod test {
     use crate::{Operator, Version, VersionSpecifier, VersionSpecifiers};
     use indoc::indoc;
+    use smallvec::smallvec;
     use std::cmp::Ordering;
     use std::str::FromStr;
 
@@ -1060,7 +1061,7 @@ mod test {
                     operator: Operator::TildeEqual,
                     version: Version {
                         epoch: 0,
-                        release: vec![0, 9],
+                        release: smallvec![0, 9],
                         pre: None,
                         post: None,
                         dev: None,
@@ -1071,7 +1072,7 @@ mod test {
                     operator: Operator::GreaterThanEqual,
                     version: Version {
                         epoch: 0,
-                        release: vec![1, 0],
+                        release: smallvec![1, 0],
                         pre: None,
                         post: None,
                         dev: None,
@@ -1082,7 +1083,7 @@ mod test {
                     operator: Operator::NotEqualStar,
                     version: Version {
                         epoch: 0,
-                        release: vec![1, 3, 4],
+                        release: smallvec![1, 3, 4],
                         pre: None,
                         post: None,
                         dev: None,
@@ -1093,7 +1094,7 @@ mod test {
                     operator: Operator::LessThan,
                     version: Version {
                         epoch: 0,
-                        release: vec![2, 0],
+                        release: smallvec![2, 0],
                         pre: None,
                         post: None,
                         dev: None,
diff --git a/crates/pep508-rs/Cargo.toml b/crates/pep508-rs/Cargo.toml
index 0c68e169e..f6371fc27 100644
--- a/crates/pep508-rs/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/pep508-rs/Cargo.toml
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ indoc = "2.0.4"
 log = "0.4.20"
 testing_logger = "0.1.1"
 serde_json = "1.0.108"
+smallvec = { workspace = true }
 
 [features]
 pyo3 = ["dep:pyo3", "pep440_rs/pyo3", "pyo3-log"]
diff --git a/crates/pep508-rs/src/lib.rs b/crates/pep508-rs/src/lib.rs
index 9b9114cc0..d4a77abf0 100644
--- a/crates/pep508-rs/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/pep508-rs/src/lib.rs
@@ -888,6 +888,7 @@ mod tests {
     use std::str::FromStr;
 
     use indoc::indoc;
+    use smallvec::smallvec;
     use url::Url;
 
     use pep440_rs::{Operator, Version, VersionSpecifier};
@@ -956,7 +957,7 @@ mod tests {
                         Operator::GreaterThanEqual,
                         Version {
                             epoch: 0,
-                            release: vec![2, 8, 1],
+                            release: smallvec![2, 8, 1],
                             pre: None,
                             post: None,
                             dev: None,
@@ -969,7 +970,7 @@ mod tests {
                         Operator::Equal,
                         Version {
                             epoch: 0,
-                            release: vec![2, 8],
+                            release: smallvec![2, 8],
                             pre: None,
                             post: None,
                             dev: None,