diff --git a/execute/allocator.go b/execute/allocator.go
index 45f60b1d90..d176875a55 100644
--- a/execute/allocator.go
+++ b/execute/allocator.go
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package execute
 
 import (
+	arrowmem "github.com/apache/arrow/go/v7/arrow/memory"
+
 	"github.com/influxdata/flux/memory"
 )
 
@@ -156,17 +158,14 @@ func (a *Allocator) GrowFloats(slice []float64, n int) []float64 {
 	return s
 }
 
-// Strings makes a slice of string values.
-// Only the string headers are accounted for.
-func (a *Allocator) Strings(l, c int) []string {
+// Strings makes a slice of String values.
+func (a *Allocator) Strings(l, c int) []String {
 	a.account(c, stringSize)
-	return make([]string, l, c)
+	return make([]String, l, c)
 }
 
-// AppendStrings appends strings to a slice.
-// Only the string headers are accounted for.
-func (a *Allocator) AppendStrings(slice []string, vs ...string) []string {
-	// TODO(nathanielc): Account for actual size of strings
+// AppendStrings appends Strings to a slice.
+func (a *Allocator) AppendStrings(slice []String, vs ...String) []String {
 	if cap(slice)-len(slice) >= len(vs) {
 		return append(slice, vs...)
 	}
@@ -176,14 +175,14 @@ func (a *Allocator) AppendStrings(slice []string, vs ...string) []string {
 	return s
 }
 
-func (a *Allocator) GrowStrings(slice []string, n int) []string {
+func (a *Allocator) GrowStrings(slice []String, n int) []String {
 	newCap := len(slice) + n
 	if newCap < cap(slice) {
 		return slice[:newCap]
 	}
 	// grow capacity same way as built-in append
 	newCap = newCap*3/2 + 1
-	s := make([]string, len(slice)+n, newCap)
+	s := make([]String, len(slice)+n, newCap)
 	copy(s, slice)
 	diff := cap(s) - cap(slice)
 	a.account(diff, stringSize)
@@ -220,3 +219,13 @@ func (a *Allocator) GrowTimes(slice []Time, n int) []Time {
 	a.account(diff, timeSize)
 	return s
 }
+
+// String represents a string stored in some backing byte slice.
+type String struct {
+	offset int
+	len    int
+}
+
+func (s String) Bytes(buf *arrowmem.Buffer) []byte {
+	return buf.Bytes()[s.offset : s.offset+s.len]
+}
diff --git a/execute/table.go b/execute/table.go
index 82a0886981..9d0c93c1ab 100644
--- a/execute/table.go
+++ b/execute/table.go
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
 package execute
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"sort"
 	"sync/atomic"
 
+	arrowmem "github.com/apache/arrow/go/v7/arrow/memory"
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
+
 	"github.com/influxdata/flux"
 	"github.com/influxdata/flux/array"
 	"github.com/influxdata/flux/arrow"
@@ -295,8 +298,9 @@ func TablesEqual(left, right flux.Table, alloc memory.Allocator) (bool, error) {
 				eq = cmp.Equal(leftBuffer.cols[j].(*floatColumnBuilder).data,
 					rightBuffer.cols[j].(*floatColumnBuilder).data)
 			case flux.TString:
-				eq = cmp.Equal(leftBuffer.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data,
-					rightBuffer.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data)
+				eq = cmp.Equal(leftBuffer.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder),
+					rightBuffer.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder),
+					cmp.Comparer(stringColumnBuilderEqual))
 			case flux.TTime:
 				eq = cmp.Equal(leftBuffer.cols[j].(*timeColumnBuilder).data,
 					rightBuffer.cols[j].(*timeColumnBuilder).data)
@@ -324,6 +328,27 @@ func colsMatch(left, right []flux.ColMeta) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
+func stringColumnBuilderEqual(x, y *stringColumnBuilder) bool {
+	if x.Len() != y.Len() {
+		return false
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < x.Len(); i++ {
+		if x.IsNil(i) {
+			if !y.IsNil(i) {
+				return false
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+		if y.IsNil(i) {
+			return false
+		}
+		if !bytes.Equal(x.data[i].Bytes(x.buf), y.data[i].Bytes(y.buf)) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
 // ColMap writes a mapping of builder index to cols index into colMap.
 // When colMap does not have enough capacity a new colMap is allocated.
 // The colMap is always returned
@@ -598,6 +623,7 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) AddCol(c flux.ColMeta) (int, error) {
 	case flux.TString:
 		b.cols = append(b.cols, &stringColumnBuilder{
 			columnBuilderBase: colBase,
+			buf:               arrowmem.NewResizableBuffer(b.alloc.Allocator),
 		})
 		if b.NRows() > 0 {
 			if err := b.GrowStrings(newIdx, b.NRows()); err != nil {
@@ -919,8 +945,9 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) SetString(i int, j int, value string) error {
 	if err := b.checkCol(j, flux.TString); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data[i] = value
-	b.cols[j].SetNil(i, false)
+	col := b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder)
+	col.data[i] = col.makeString(value)
+	col.SetNil(i, false)
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -929,7 +956,7 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) AppendString(j int, value string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	col := b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder)
-	col.data = b.alloc.AppendStrings(col.data, value)
+	col.data = b.alloc.AppendStrings(col.data, col.makeString(value))
 	b.nrows = len(col.data)
 	return nil
 }
@@ -1152,11 +1179,6 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) Floats(j int) []float64 {
 	CheckColType(b.colMeta[j], flux.TFloat)
 	return b.cols[j].(*floatColumnBuilder).data
 }
-func (b *ColListTableBuilder) Strings(j int) []string {
-	meta := b.colMeta[j]
-	CheckColType(meta, flux.TString)
-	return b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data
-}
 func (b *ColListTableBuilder) Times(j int) []values.Time {
 	CheckColType(b.colMeta[j], flux.TTime)
 	return b.cols[j].(*timeColumnBuilder).data
@@ -1180,7 +1202,9 @@ func (b *ColListTableBuilder) GetRow(row int) values.Object {
 				case flux.TFloat:
 					val = values.NewFloat(b.cols[j].(*floatColumnBuilder).data[row])
 				case flux.TString:
-					val = values.NewString(b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder).data[row])
+					// TODO(mhilton): avoid a copy
+					col := b.cols[j].(*stringColumnBuilder)
+					val = values.NewString(string(col.data[row].Bytes(col.buf)))
 				case flux.TTime:
 					val = values.NewTime(b.cols[j].(*timeColumnBuilder).data[row])
 				}
@@ -1866,46 +1890,38 @@ func (c *stringColumn) Copy() column {
 
 type stringColumnBuilder struct {
 	columnBuilderBase
-	data []string
+	data []String
+
+	// buf contains a backing buffer containing the bytes of the
+	// strings.
+	buf *arrowmem.Buffer
 }
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Clear() {
-	c.data = c.data[0:0]
+	c.buf.Release()
+	c.buf = arrowmem.NewResizableBuffer(c.alloc.Allocator)
+	c.data = c.data[:0]
 }
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Release() {
+	c.buf.Release()
 	c.alloc.Free(cap(c.data), stringSize)
-	c.data = nil
 }
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Copy() column {
-	var data *array.String
-	if len(c.nils) > 0 {
-		b := arrow.NewStringBuilder(c.alloc.Allocator)
-		b.Reserve(len(c.data))
-		sz := 0
-		for i, v := range c.data {
-			if c.nils[i] {
-				continue
-			}
-			sz += len(v)
-		}
-		b.ReserveData(sz)
-		for i, v := range c.data {
-			if c.nils[i] {
-				b.AppendNull()
-				continue
-			}
-			b.Append(v)
+	builder := arrow.NewStringBuilder(c.alloc.Allocator)
+	builder.Reserve(len(c.data))
+	builder.ReserveData(c.buf.Len())
+	for i, v := range c.data {
+		if c.nils[i] {
+			builder.AppendNull()
+			continue
 		}
-		data = b.NewStringArray()
-		b.Release()
-	} else {
-		data = arrow.NewString(c.data, c.alloc.Allocator)
+		builder.AppendBytes(v.Bytes(c.buf))
 	}
 	col := &stringColumn{
 		ColMeta: c.ColMeta,
-		data:    data,
+		data:    builder.NewStringArray(),
 	}
 	return col
 }
@@ -1916,13 +1932,13 @@ func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Len() int {
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Equal(i, j int) bool {
 	return c.EqualFunc(i, j, func(i, j int) bool {
-		return c.data[i] == c.data[j]
+		return bytes.Equal(c.data[i].Bytes(c.buf), c.data[j].Bytes(c.buf))
 	})
 }
 
 func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Less(i, j int) bool {
 	return c.LessFunc(i, j, func(i, j int) bool {
-		return c.data[i] < c.data[j]
+		return bytes.Compare(c.data[i].Bytes(c.buf), c.data[j].Bytes(c.buf)) < 0
 	})
 }
 
@@ -1931,6 +1947,16 @@ func (c *stringColumnBuilder) Swap(i, j int) {
 	c.data[i], c.data[j] = c.data[j], c.data[i]
 }
 
+func (c *stringColumnBuilder) makeString(s string) String {
+	offset := c.buf.Len()
+	c.buf.Resize(offset + len(s))
+	copy(c.buf.Bytes()[offset:], s)
+	return String{
+		offset: offset,
+		len:    len(s),
+	}
+}
+
 type timeColumn struct {
 	flux.ColMeta
 	data *array.Int
diff --git a/execute/table_test.go b/execute/table_test.go
index 8311d0b05a..9996acdc5e 100644
--- a/execute/table_test.go
+++ b/execute/table_test.go
@@ -148,6 +148,58 @@ func TestTablesEqual(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			want: false,
 		},
+		{
+			name: "string values",
+			data0: &executetest.Table{
+				ColMeta: []flux.ColMeta{
+					{Label: "_time", Type: flux.TTime},
+					{Label: "_value", Type: flux.TString},
+				},
+				Data: [][]interface{}{
+					{execute.Time(1), "1"},
+					{execute.Time(2), "2"},
+					{execute.Time(3), "3"},
+				},
+			},
+			data1: &executetest.Table{
+				ColMeta: []flux.ColMeta{
+					{Label: "_time", Type: flux.TTime},
+					{Label: "_value", Type: flux.TString},
+				},
+				Data: [][]interface{}{
+					{execute.Time(1), "1"},
+					{execute.Time(2), "2"},
+					{execute.Time(3), "3"},
+				},
+			},
+			want: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "string mismatch",
+			data0: &executetest.Table{
+				ColMeta: []flux.ColMeta{
+					{Label: "_time", Type: flux.TTime},
+					{Label: "_value", Type: flux.TString},
+				},
+				Data: [][]interface{}{
+					{execute.Time(1), "1"},
+					{execute.Time(2), "2"},
+					{execute.Time(3), "3"},
+				},
+			},
+			data1: &executetest.Table{
+				ColMeta: []flux.ColMeta{
+					{Label: "_time", Type: flux.TTime},
+					{Label: "_value", Type: flux.TString},
+				},
+				Data: [][]interface{}{
+					{execute.Time(1), "1"},
+					{execute.Time(2), "2"},
+					{execute.Time(3), "4"},
+				},
+			},
+			want: false,
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		tc := tc