diff --git a/tools/trace-parser/trace-tools/Cargo.lock b/tools/trace-parser/trace-tools/Cargo.lock
index 06070420a7d95b1729b2edb5f9459e8c4f7272ec..5c1e709934acaaba7afbfa5a3c3c3d9f931ec512 100644
--- a/tools/trace-parser/trace-tools/Cargo.lock
+++ b/tools/trace-parser/trace-tools/Cargo.lock
@@ -1241,7 +1241,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "nom-language",
  "nom_locate",
  "once_cell",
- "smartstring",
  "thiserror",
  "thread_local",
  "zstd",
diff --git a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/Cargo.toml b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/Cargo.toml
index 7d22f613897a30e996e762202ff211e9a656e647..d6936724012646f3b7d7bd202e2a773655248cbc 100644
--- a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/Cargo.toml
+++ b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ edition = "2021"
 [dependencies]
 nom = "8.0"
 nom_locate = "5.0"
-smartstring = "1.0"
 thiserror = "2.0"
 memmap2 = "0.9"
 deref-map = "0.1.0"
@@ -23,3 +22,9 @@ bytemuck = "1.13"
 thread_local = "1.1"
 zstd = "0.13"
 nom-language = "0.1"
+
+
+smartstring = {version = "1.0", optional = true }
+
+[features]
+smartstring = ["dep:smartstring"]
diff --git a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/buffer.rs b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/buffer.rs
index 1a844df8a7395908d062e99675a28b204dd27993..13d34ec5b1579895be5affc4eacab9dcfde7a18c 100644
--- a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/buffer.rs
+++ b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/buffer.rs
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ use bytemuck::cast_slice;
 use deref_map::DerefMap;
 use genawaiter::{sync::gen, yield_};
 use once_cell::unsync::OnceCell;
-use smartstring::alias::String;
 
 use crate::{
     array,
@@ -50,7 +49,7 @@ use crate::{
     iterator::MergedIterator,
     print::{PrintArg, PrintAtom, PrintFmtStr, PrintPrecision, PrintWidth, VBinSpecifier},
     scratch::{ScratchAlloc, ScratchVec},
-    str::Str,
+    str::{Str, String},
 };
 
 /// Keeps an [EventId] <-> ([EventDesc], [Ctx]) mapping so we can quickly access the decoder for
diff --git a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/cparser.rs b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/cparser.rs
index 828f21dd704f0b287fd766cd0a9fd761fbdea53a..dd6e1c57a2f5264c80a91ff42fe0be3b4e4de673 100644
--- a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/cparser.rs
+++ b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/cparser.rs
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ use nom::{
     sequence::{delimited, pair, preceded, separated_pair, terminated},
     AsBytes, Finish as _, Parser,
 };
-use smartstring::alias::String;
 
 use crate::{
     cinterp::{
@@ -53,7 +52,7 @@ use crate::{
         VerboseParseError,
     },
     scratch::{OwnedScratchBox, ScratchVec},
-    str::Str,
+    str::{Str, String},
 };
 
 /// Type of a C expression.
diff --git a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/header.rs b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/header.rs
index e99010d2b1f42b0f6c5bda694473755a14123013..46b245b57a513af07a937449b2511e7639352704 100644
--- a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/header.rs
+++ b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/header.rs
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ use nom::{
     Finish as _, Parser,
 };
 use once_cell::sync::OnceCell;
-use smartstring::alias::String;
 
 use crate::{
     array::Array,
@@ -75,7 +74,7 @@ use crate::{
     },
     print::{PrintAtom, PrintFmtError, PrintFmtStr, PrintSpecifier, StringWriter},
     scratch::{ScratchAlloc, ScratchVec},
-    str::Str,
+    str::{Str, String},
 };
 
 /// Type alias for a memory address contained in the trace.
diff --git a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/print.rs b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/print.rs
index ae661a7a1b22bf508d0d14c5d5ec7569b81fcac3..c64593832a7a7fe2107bdd2bc3d41c6a392f9414 100644
--- a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/print.rs
+++ b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/print.rs
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ use nom::{
     Parser,
 };
 use once_cell::sync::OnceCell;
-use smartstring::alias::String;
 
 use crate::{
     buffer::{BufferError, VBinDecoder},
@@ -46,7 +45,7 @@ use crate::{
     error::convert_err_impl,
     header::{Abi, Endianness, Header, LongSize, Signedness},
     parser::{map_res_cut, FromParseError, NomParserExt as _, VerboseParseError},
-    str::{InnerStr, Str},
+    str::{InnerStr, Str, String},
 };
 
 /// Parsed printk-style format string.
@@ -1363,7 +1362,7 @@ where
                             if key {
                                 let merged_s = group
                                     .map(|x| match x {
-                                        PrintAtom::Fixed(s) => s,
+                                        PrintAtom::Fixed(s) => s.as_str(),
                                         _ => panic!("Expected fixed atom"),
                                     })
                                     .collect();
diff --git a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/str.rs b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/str.rs
index 3d3c64699be6958dff3771e0c918c8dcb988e57e..3ea521e506e79b6de7307e80d6d5bdc0e7eb9eba 100644
--- a/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/str.rs
+++ b/tools/trace-parser/traceevent/src/str.rs
@@ -16,8 +16,7 @@
 
 //! Custom string type that fits all use cases inside this crate.
 //!
-//! The main reason for a custom type are the various ownership models supported and using
-//! [smartstring::alias::String] internally where possible.
+//! The main reason for a custom type are the various ownership models supported.
 
 use core::{
     borrow::Borrow,
@@ -28,13 +27,17 @@ use core::{
 };
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
-use smartstring::alias::String;
-
 use crate::{
     memo::Memo,
     scratch::{OwnedScratchBox, OwnedScratchBox_as_dyn, ScratchAlloc},
 };
 
+#[cfg(feature = "smartstring")]
+pub use smartstring::alias::String;
+
+#[cfg(not(feature = "smartstring"))]
+pub use String;
+
 /// String type with various ownership model available.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct Str<'a> {
@@ -151,7 +154,7 @@ impl<'a> Str<'a> {
                 // smartstring will keep strings smaller than 23 bytes directly in the value rather
                 // than allocating on the heap. It's cheap to clone and will not create unnecessary
                 // atomic writes memory traffic.
-                if s.len() <= 23 {
+                if cfg!(feature = "smartstring") && s.len() <= 23 {
                     InnerStr::Owned(s.into())
                 } else {
                     InnerStr::Arc(Arc::from(s))