diff --git a/include/aws/common/allocator.h b/include/aws/common/allocator.h
index d4880f846..eff552b43 100644
--- a/include/aws/common/allocator.h
+++ b/include/aws/common/allocator.h
@@ -15,16 +15,14 @@ AWS_EXTERN_C_BEGIN
 /*
  * Quick guide to allocators:
  *  CRT offers several flavours of allocators:
- * - default: basic allocator, targeted toward most common use case. behavior
+ * - default: basic allocator that invokes system one directly.
+ * - aligned: basic allocator, targeted toward most common use case. behavior
  *   can change over time. Current default aligns small allocations on 8 byte
  *   boundary and big buffers on 32/64 byte (system dependent) boundary.
  *   Aligned mem can improve perf on some operations, like memcpy or hashes.
  *   Depending on a system, can result in higher peak memory count in heavy
  *   acquire/free scenarios (ex. s3), due to memory fragmentation related to how
- *   aligned allocators work (overallocate, find aligned offset, release extra memory)
- * - no_align: similar to default, but does not do any alignment. In practice,
- *   has smaller peak memory footprint than default allocator, at the cost of
- *   potentially being slower.
+ *   aligned allocators work (over allocate, find aligned offset, release extra memory)
  * - wrapped_cf: wraps MacOS's Security Framework allocator.
  * - mem_tracer: wraps any allocator and provides tracing functionality to allocations
  * - small_block_allocator: pools smaller allocations into preallocated buckets.
@@ -52,10 +50,11 @@ AWS_COMMON_API
 struct aws_allocator *aws_default_allocator(void);
 
 /*
- * Vanilla allocator. No extra logic on top of system allocator.
+ * Allocator that align small allocations on 8 byte boundary and big allocations
+ * on 32/64 byte boundary. 
  */
 AWS_COMMON_API
-struct aws_allocator *aws_no_align_allocator(void);
+struct aws_allocator *aws_aligned_allocator(void);
 
 #ifdef __MACH__
 /* Avoid pulling in CoreFoundation headers in a header file. */
diff --git a/source/allocator.c b/source/allocator.c
index c07c58336..02847b1ae 100644
--- a/source/allocator.c
+++ b/source/allocator.c
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ bool aws_allocator_is_valid(const struct aws_allocator *alloc) {
     return alloc && AWS_OBJECT_PTR_IS_READABLE(alloc) && alloc->mem_acquire && alloc->mem_release;
 }
 
-static void *s_default_malloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t size) {
+static void *s_aligned_malloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t size) {
     (void)allocator;
     /* larger allocations should be aligned so that AVX and friends can avoid
      * the extra preamble during unaligned versions of memcpy/memset on big buffers
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ static void *s_default_malloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t size) {
 #endif
 }
 
-static void s_default_free(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr) {
+static void s_aligned_free(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr) {
     (void)allocator;
 #if !defined(_WIN32)
     free(ptr);
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ static void s_default_free(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr) {
 #endif
 }
 
-static void *s_default_realloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr, size_t oldsize, size_t newsize) {
+static void *s_aligned_realloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr, size_t oldsize, size_t newsize) {
     (void)allocator;
     (void)oldsize;
     AWS_FATAL_PRECONDITION(newsize);
@@ -82,12 +82,12 @@ static void *s_default_realloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr, size_
     }
 
     /* newsize is > oldsize, need more memory */
-    void *new_mem = s_default_malloc(allocator, newsize);
-    AWS_PANIC_OOM(new_mem, "Unhandled OOM encountered in s_default_malloc");
+    void *new_mem = s_aligned_malloc(allocator, newsize);
+    AWS_PANIC_OOM(new_mem, "Unhandled OOM encountered in s_aligned_malloc");
 
     if (ptr) {
         memcpy(new_mem, ptr, oldsize);
-        s_default_free(allocator, ptr);
+        s_aligned_free(allocator, ptr);
     }
 
     return new_mem;
@@ -99,37 +99,26 @@ static void *s_default_realloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr, size_
 #endif
 }
 
-static void *s_default_calloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t num, size_t size) {
-    void *mem = s_default_malloc(allocator, num * size);
-    AWS_PANIC_OOM(mem, "Unhandled OOM encountered in s_default_malloc");
+static void *s_aligned_calloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t num, size_t size) {
+    void *mem = s_aligned_malloc(allocator, num * size);
+    AWS_PANIC_OOM(mem, "Unhandled OOM encountered in s_aligned_calloc");
     memset(mem, 0, num * size);
     return mem;
 }
 
-static struct aws_allocator default_allocator = {
-    .mem_acquire = s_default_malloc,
-    .mem_release = s_default_free,
-    .mem_realloc = s_default_realloc,
-    .mem_calloc = s_default_calloc,
-};
-
-struct aws_allocator *aws_default_allocator(void) {
-    return &default_allocator;
-}
-
-static void *s_no_align_malloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t size) {
+static void *s_non_aligned_malloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t size) {
     (void)allocator;
     void *result = malloc(size);
-    AWS_PANIC_OOM(result, "posix_memalign failed to allocate memory");
+    AWS_PANIC_OOM(result, "malloc failed to allocate memory");
     return result;
 }
 
-static void s_no_align_free(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr) {
+static void s_non_aligned_free(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr) {
     (void)allocator;
     free(ptr);
 }
 
-static void *s_no_align_realloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr, size_t oldsize, size_t newsize) {
+static void *s_non_aligned_realloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr, size_t oldsize, size_t newsize) {
     (void)allocator;
     (void)oldsize;
     AWS_FATAL_PRECONDITION(newsize);
@@ -139,33 +128,44 @@ static void *s_no_align_realloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ptr, size
     }
 
     /* newsize is > oldsize, need more memory */
-    void *new_mem = s_no_align_malloc(allocator, newsize);
-    AWS_PANIC_OOM(new_mem, "Unhandled OOM encountered in s_default_malloc");
+    void *new_mem = s_non_aligned_malloc(allocator, newsize);
+    AWS_PANIC_OOM(new_mem, "Unhandled OOM encountered in s_non_aligned_realloc");
 
     if (ptr) {
         memcpy(new_mem, ptr, oldsize);
-        s_no_align_free(allocator, ptr);
+        s_non_aligned_free(allocator, ptr);
     }
 
     return new_mem;
 }
 
-static void *s_no_align_calloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t num, size_t size) {
+static void *s_non_aligned_calloc(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t num, size_t size) {
     (void)allocator;
     void *mem = calloc(num, size);
-    AWS_PANIC_OOM(mem, "Unhandled OOM encountered in s_default_malloc");
+    AWS_PANIC_OOM(mem, "Unhandled OOM encountered in s_non_aligned_calloc");
     return mem;
 }
 
-static struct aws_allocator no_align_allocator = {
-    .mem_acquire = s_no_align_malloc,
-    .mem_release = s_no_align_free,
-    .mem_realloc = s_no_align_realloc,
-    .mem_calloc = s_no_align_calloc,
+static struct aws_allocator default_allocator = {
+    .mem_acquire = s_non_aligned_malloc,
+    .mem_release = s_non_aligned_free,
+    .mem_realloc = s_non_aligned_realloc,
+    .mem_calloc = s_non_aligned_calloc,
+};
+
+struct aws_allocator *aws_default_allocator(void) {
+    return &default_allocator;
+}
+
+static struct aws_allocator aligned_allocator = {
+    .mem_acquire = s_aligned_malloc,
+    .mem_release = s_aligned_free,
+    .mem_realloc = s_aligned_realloc,
+    .mem_calloc = s_aligned_calloc,
 };
 
-struct aws_allocator *aws_no_align_allocator(void) {
-    return &no_align_allocator;
+struct aws_allocator *aws_aligned_allocator(void) {
+    return &aligned_allocator;
 }
 
 void *aws_mem_acquire(struct aws_allocator *allocator, size_t size) {
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index a35328083..a68605398 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -320,8 +320,8 @@ add_test_case(sba_churn)
 add_test_case(sba_metrics)
 add_test_case(default_threaded_reallocs)
 add_test_case(default_threaded_allocs_and_frees)
-add_test_case(no_align_threaded_reallocs)
-add_test_case(no_align_threaded_allocs_and_frees)
+add_test_case(aligned_threaded_reallocs)
+add_test_case(aligned_threaded_allocs_and_frees)
 
 add_test_case(test_memtrace_none)
 add_test_case(test_memtrace_count)
diff --git a/tests/alloc_test.c b/tests/alloc_test.c
index 060dce120..364b3f319 100644
--- a/tests/alloc_test.c
+++ b/tests/alloc_test.c
@@ -352,12 +352,12 @@ AWS_TEST_CASE(default_threaded_allocs_and_frees, s_default_threaded_allocs_and_f
 /*
  * No align allocator tests.
  */
-static int s_no_align_threaded_reallocs(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ctx) {
+static int s_aligned_threaded_reallocs(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ctx) {
     (void)allocator;
     (void)ctx;
     srand(15);
 
-    struct aws_allocator *alloc = aws_mem_tracer_new(aws_no_align_allocator(), NULL, AWS_MEMTRACE_STACKS, 8);
+    struct aws_allocator *alloc = aws_mem_tracer_new(aws_aligned_allocator(), NULL, AWS_MEMTRACE_STACKS, 8);
 
     s_thread_test(alloc, s_threaded_realloc_worker, alloc);
 
@@ -365,14 +365,14 @@ static int s_no_align_threaded_reallocs(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *c
 
     return 0;
 }
-AWS_TEST_CASE(no_align_threaded_reallocs, s_no_align_threaded_reallocs)
+AWS_TEST_CASE(aligned_threaded_reallocs, s_aligned_threaded_reallocs)
 
-static int s_no_align_threaded_allocs_and_frees(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ctx) {
+static int s_aligned_threaded_allocs_and_frees(struct aws_allocator *allocator, void *ctx) {
     (void)allocator;
     (void)ctx;
     srand(99);
 
-    struct aws_allocator *alloc = aws_mem_tracer_new(aws_no_align_allocator(), NULL, AWS_MEMTRACE_STACKS, 8);
+    struct aws_allocator *alloc = aws_mem_tracer_new(aws_aligned_allocator(), NULL, AWS_MEMTRACE_STACKS, 8);
 
     s_thread_test(alloc, s_threaded_alloc_worker, alloc);
 
@@ -380,4 +380,4 @@ static int s_no_align_threaded_allocs_and_frees(struct aws_allocator *allocator,
 
     return 0;
 }
-AWS_TEST_CASE(no_align_threaded_allocs_and_frees, s_no_align_threaded_allocs_and_frees)
+AWS_TEST_CASE(aligned_threaded_allocs_and_frees, s_aligned_threaded_allocs_and_frees)