diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/defaults.ts b/packages/vitest/src/defaults.ts
index 8e06bfb70146..31612e838bc0 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/defaults.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/defaults.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export const benchmarkConfigDefaults: Required<
   exclude: defaultExclude,
   includeSource: [],
   reporters: ['default'],
+  includeSamples: false,
 }
 
 const defaultCoverageExcludes = [
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/config/serializeConfig.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/config/serializeConfig.ts
index 03e78489c54a..249f4bbdaa1a 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/config/serializeConfig.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/config/serializeConfig.ts
@@ -160,5 +160,8 @@ export function serializeConfig(
     standalone: config.standalone,
     printConsoleTrace:
       config.printConsoleTrace ?? coreConfig.printConsoleTrace,
+    benchmark: config.benchmark && {
+      includeSamples: config.benchmark.includeSamples,
+    },
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/reporters/benchmark/table/index.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/reporters/benchmark/table/index.ts
index 99dae30d86a2..866a5a1d9019 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/reporters/benchmark/table/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/reporters/benchmark/table/index.ts
@@ -167,10 +167,8 @@ interface FormattedBenchmarkGroup {
   benchmarks: FormattedBenchmarkResult[]
 }
 
-export type FormattedBenchmarkResult = Omit<BenchmarkResult, 'samples'> & {
+export type FormattedBenchmarkResult = BenchmarkResult & {
   id: string
-  sampleCount: number
-  median: number
 }
 
 function createFormattedBenchmarkReport(files: File[]) {
@@ -183,18 +181,7 @@ function createFormattedBenchmarkReport(files: File[]) {
         for (const t of task.tasks) {
           const benchmark = t.meta.benchmark && t.result?.benchmark
           if (benchmark) {
-            const { samples, ...rest } = benchmark
-            benchmarks.push({
-              id: t.id,
-              sampleCount: samples.length,
-              median:
-                samples.length % 2
-                  ? samples[Math.floor(samples.length / 2)]
-                  : (samples[samples.length / 2]
-                  + samples[samples.length / 2 - 1])
-                  / 2,
-              ...rest,
-            })
+            benchmarks.push({ id: t.id, ...benchmark, samples: [] })
           }
         }
         if (benchmarks.length) {
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/reporters/benchmark/table/tableRender.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/reporters/benchmark/table/tableRender.ts
index 8c9b21ba0790..483454956874 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/reporters/benchmark/table/tableRender.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/reporters/benchmark/table/tableRender.ts
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ function renderBenchmarkItems(result: BenchmarkResult) {
     formatNumber(result.p995 || 0),
     formatNumber(result.p999 || 0),
     `±${(result.rme || 0).toFixed(2)}%`,
-    result.samples.length.toString(),
+    (result.sampleCount || 0).toString(),
   ]
 }
 
@@ -124,10 +124,7 @@ export function renderTree(
       }
       const baseline = options.compare?.[t.id]
       if (baseline) {
-        benchMap[t.id].baseline = {
-          ...baseline,
-          samples: Array.from({ length: baseline.sampleCount }),
-        }
+        benchMap[t.id].baseline = baseline
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/types/benchmark.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/types/benchmark.ts
index e2ee6c53a884..46796b8f4657 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/types/benchmark.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/types/benchmark.ts
@@ -50,4 +50,11 @@ export interface BenchmarkUserOptions {
    * benchmark output file
    */
   outputJson?: string
+
+  /**
+   * Include `samples` array of benchmark results for API or custom reporter usages.
+   * This is disabled by default to reduce memory usage.
+   * @default false
+   */
+  includeSamples?: boolean
 }
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/config.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/config.ts
index 0ecbf4cd1628..14ebe708c67b 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/config.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/config.ts
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ export interface SerializedConfig {
   standalone: boolean
   logHeapUsage: boolean | undefined
   coverage: SerializedCoverageConfig
+  benchmark?: {
+    includeSamples: boolean
+  }
 }
 
 export interface SerializedCoverageConfig {
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/benchmark.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/benchmark.ts
index cc6edb95c824..9dad217ed277 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/benchmark.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/benchmark.ts
@@ -72,6 +72,15 @@ async function runBenchmarkSuite(suite: Suite, runner: NodeBenchmarkRunner) {
           const taskRes = task.result!
           const result = benchmark.result!.benchmark!
           Object.assign(result, taskRes)
+          // compute extra stats and free raw samples as early as possible
+          const samples = result.samples
+          result.sampleCount = samples.length
+          result.median = samples.length % 2
+            ? samples[Math.floor(samples.length / 2)]
+            : (samples[samples.length / 2] + samples[samples.length / 2 - 1]) / 2
+          if (!runner.config.benchmark?.includeSamples) {
+            result.samples.length = 0
+          }
           updateTask(benchmark)
         },
         {
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/types/benchmark.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/types/benchmark.ts
index fb83535b3f56..34535bce7582 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/types/benchmark.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/types/benchmark.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ export interface Benchmark extends Custom {
 export interface BenchmarkResult extends TinybenchResult {
   name: string
   rank: number
+  sampleCount: number
+  median: number
 }
 
 export type BenchFunction = (this: BenchFactory) => Promise<void> | void
diff --git a/test/benchmark/test/reporter.test.ts b/test/benchmark/test/reporter.test.ts
index 35ee2e496a91..0e3ddebe2dd1 100644
--- a/test/benchmark/test/reporter.test.ts
+++ b/test/benchmark/test/reporter.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { assert, expect, it } from 'vitest'
 import * as pathe from 'pathe'
 import { runVitest } from '../../test-utils'
 
@@ -27,3 +27,24 @@ it('non-tty', async () => {
 `
   expect(lines).toMatchObject(expected.trim().split('\n').map(s => expect.stringContaining(s)))
 })
+
+it.for([true, false])('includeSamples %s', async (includeSamples) => {
+  const result = await runVitest(
+    {
+      root: pathe.join(import.meta.dirname, '../fixtures/reporter'),
+      benchmark: { includeSamples },
+    },
+    ['summary.bench.ts'],
+    'benchmark',
+  )
+  assert(result.ctx)
+  const allSamples = [...result.ctx.state.idMap.values()]
+    .filter(t => t.meta.benchmark)
+    .map(t => t.result?.benchmark?.samples)
+  if (includeSamples) {
+    expect(allSamples[0]).not.toEqual([])
+  }
+  else {
+    expect(allSamples[0]).toEqual([])
+  }
+})