diff --git a/src/api/dirmonitor.c b/src/api/dirmonitor.c
index 1fcf82d..d35af2f 100644
--- a/src/api/dirmonitor.c
+++ b/src/api/dirmonitor.c
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ static int f_dirmonitor_gc(lua_State* L) {
   deinit_dirmonitor(monitor->internal);
   SDL_UnlockMutex(monitor->mutex);
   SDL_WaitThread(monitor->thread, NULL);
-  free(monitor->internal);
+  SDL_free(monitor->internal);
   SDL_DestroyMutex(monitor->mutex);
   return 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/api/dirmonitor/fsevents.c b/src/api/dirmonitor/fsevents.c
index 60ca16c..1104641 100644
--- a/src/api/dirmonitor/fsevents.c
+++ b/src/api/dirmonitor/fsevents.c
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ struct dirmonitor_internal* init_dirmonitor() {
     mainloop_registered = true;
   }
 
-  struct dirmonitor_internal* monitor = malloc(sizeof(struct dirmonitor_internal));
+  struct dirmonitor_internal* monitor = SDL_calloc(1, sizeof(struct dirmonitor_internal));
   monitor->stream = NULL;
   monitor->changes = NULL;
   monitor->count = 0;
@@ -45,9 +45,9 @@ static void stop_monitor_stream(struct dirmonitor_internal* monitor) {
     close(monitor->fds[1]);
     if (monitor->count > 0) {
       for (size_t i = 0; i<monitor->count; i++) {
-        free(monitor->changes[i]);
+        SDL_free(monitor->changes[i]);
       }
-      free(monitor->changes);
+      SDL_free(monitor->changes);
       monitor->changes = NULL;
       monitor->count = 0;
     }
@@ -82,17 +82,17 @@ static void stream_callback(
   size_t total = 0;
   if (monitor->count == 0) {
     total = numEvents;
-    monitor->changes = calloc(numEvents, sizeof(char*));
+    monitor->changes = SDL_calloc(numEvents, sizeof(char*));
   } else {
     total = monitor->count + numEvents;
-    monitor->changes = realloc(
+    monitor->changes = SDL_realloc(
       monitor->changes,
       sizeof(char*) * total
     );
   }
   for (size_t idx = monitor->count; idx < total; idx++) {
     size_t pidx = idx - monitor->count;
-    monitor->changes[idx] = malloc(strlen(path_list[pidx])+1);
+    monitor->changes[idx] = SDL_malloc(strlen(path_list[pidx])+1);
     strcpy(monitor->changes[idx], path_list[pidx]);
   }
   monitor->count = total;
@@ -131,9 +131,9 @@ int translate_changes_dirmonitor(
   if (monitor->count > 0) {
     for (size_t i = 0; i<monitor->count; i++) {
       change_callback(strlen(monitor->changes[i]), monitor->changes[i], L);
-      free(monitor->changes[i]);
+      SDL_free(monitor->changes[i]);
     }
-    free(monitor->changes);
+    SDL_free(monitor->changes);
     monitor->changes = NULL;
     monitor->count = 0;
   }
diff --git a/src/api/dirmonitor/inotify.c b/src/api/dirmonitor/inotify.c
index 117e728..e9c3b74 100644
--- a/src/api/dirmonitor/inotify.c
+++ b/src/api/dirmonitor/inotify.c
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#include <SDL3/SDL.h>
 #include <sys/inotify.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
@@ -13,7 +14,7 @@ struct dirmonitor_internal {
 
 
 struct dirmonitor_internal* init_dirmonitor() {
-  struct dirmonitor_internal* monitor = calloc(1, sizeof(struct dirmonitor_internal));
+  struct dirmonitor_internal* monitor = SDL_calloc(1, sizeof(struct dirmonitor_internal));
   monitor->fd = inotify_init();
   pipe(monitor->sig);
   fcntl(monitor->sig[0], F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC);
diff --git a/src/api/dirmonitor/kqueue.c b/src/api/dirmonitor/kqueue.c
index 69e3a74..891fdeb 100644
--- a/src/api/dirmonitor/kqueue.c
+++ b/src/api/dirmonitor/kqueue.c
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#include <SDL3/SDL.h>
 #include <sys/event.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
@@ -12,7 +13,7 @@ struct dirmonitor_internal {
 
 
 struct dirmonitor_internal* init_dirmonitor() {
-  struct dirmonitor_internal* monitor = calloc(1, sizeof(struct dirmonitor_internal));
+  struct dirmonitor_internal* monitor = SDL_calloc(1, sizeof(struct dirmonitor_internal));
   monitor->fd = kqueue();
   return monitor;
 }
diff --git a/src/api/dirmonitor/win32.c b/src/api/dirmonitor/win32.c
index c320b86..9b82591 100644
--- a/src/api/dirmonitor/win32.c
+++ b/src/api/dirmonitor/win32.c
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#include <SDL3/SDL.h>
 #include <windows.h>
 
 
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ int get_changes_dirmonitor(struct dirmonitor_internal* monitor, char* buffer, in
 
 
 struct dirmonitor* init_dirmonitor() {
-  return calloc(1, sizeof(struct dirmonitor_internal));
+  return SDL_calloc(1, sizeof(struct dirmonitor_internal));
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/api/process.c b/src/api/process.c
index 91b6a8d..ba4762a 100644
--- a/src/api/process.c
+++ b/src/api/process.c
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ static void kill_list_free(process_kill_list_t *list) {
   while (node) {
     temp = node;
     node = node->next;
-    free(temp);
+    SDL_free(temp);
   }
   memset(list, 0, sizeof(process_kill_list_t));
 }
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ static int kill_list_worker(void *ud) {
         free_task:
         SDL_SignalCondition(list->work_done);
         process_handle_close(&current_task->handle);
-        free(current_task);
+        SDL_free(current_task);
       }
     }
     delay = list->head ? (list->head->start_time + PROCESS_TERM_DELAY) - SDL_GetTicks() : 0;
@@ -746,7 +746,7 @@ static int f_gc(lua_State* L) {
   if (poll_process(self, 0) && !self->detached) {
     // attempt to kill the process if still running and not detached
     signal_process(self, SIGNAL_TERM);
-    if (!list || !list->worker_thread || !(p = malloc(sizeof(process_kill_t)))) {
+    if (!list || !list->worker_thread || !(p = SDL_malloc(sizeof(process_kill_t)))) {
       // use synchronous waiting
       if (poll_process(self, PROCESS_TERM_DELAY)) {
         signal_process(self, SIGNAL_KILL);
diff --git a/src/api/regex.c b/src/api/regex.c
index bf17d42..fbcf87f 100644
--- a/src/api/regex.c
+++ b/src/api/regex.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #define PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH 8
 
+#include <SDL3/SDL.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <pcre2.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
@@ -269,7 +270,7 @@ static int f_pcre_gsub(lua_State *L) {
   pcre2_match_data* match_data = pcre2_match_data_create_from_pattern(re, NULL);
 
   size_t buffer_size = 1024;
-  char *output = (char *)malloc(buffer_size);
+  char *output = (char *)SDL_malloc(buffer_size);
 
   int options = PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH | PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_EXTENDED;
   if (limit == 0) options |= PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL;
@@ -304,19 +305,19 @@ static int f_pcre_gsub(lua_State *L) {
           } else {
             offset = ovector[1] - (subject_len - outlen);
           }
-          if (limit_count > 1) free(subject);
+          if (limit_count > 1) SDL_free(subject);
           if (limit_count == limit || offset-1 == outlen) {
             done = true;
             results_count = limit_count;
           } else {
             subject = output;
             subject_len = outlen;
-            output = (char *)malloc(buffer_size);
+            output = (char *)SDL_malloc(buffer_size);
             outlen = buffer_size;
           }
         } else {
           if (limit_count > 1) {
-            free(subject);
+            SDL_free(subject);
           }
           done = true;
           results_count = limit_count;
@@ -340,7 +341,7 @@ static int f_pcre_gsub(lua_State *L) {
     return_count = 2;
   }
 
-  free(output);
+  SDL_free(output);
   pcre2_match_data_free(match_data);
   if (regex_compiled)
     pcre2_code_free(re);
diff --git a/src/api/system.c b/src/api/system.c
index bf85ecd..5e8bb8b 100644
--- a/src/api/system.c
+++ b/src/api/system.c
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ static int f_chdir(lua_State *L) {
   LPWSTR wpath = utfconv_utf8towc(path);
   if (wpath == NULL) { return luaL_error(L, UTFCONV_ERROR_INVALID_CONVERSION ); }
   int err = _wchdir(wpath);
-  free(wpath);
+  SDL_free(wpath);
 #else
   int err = chdir(path);
 #endif
@@ -613,17 +613,17 @@ static int f_absolute_path(lua_State *L) {
   if (!wpath) { return 0; }
 
   LPWSTR wfullpath = realpath(wpath, NULL);
-  free(wpath);
+  SDL_free(wpath);
   if (!wfullpath) { return 0; }
 
   char *res = utfconv_wctoutf8(wfullpath);
-  free(wfullpath);
+  SDL_free(wfullpath);
 #else
   char *res = realpath(path, NULL);
 #endif
   if (!res) { return 0; }
   lua_pushstring(L, res);
-  free(res);
+  SDL_free(res);
   return 1;
 }
 
@@ -640,7 +640,7 @@ static int f_get_file_info(lua_State *L) {
     return 2;
   }
   int err = _wstat(wpath, &s);
-  free(wpath);
+  SDL_free(wpath);
 #else
   struct stat s;
   int err = stat(path, &s);
@@ -733,7 +733,7 @@ static int f_mkdir(lua_State *L) {
   }
 
   int err = _wmkdir(wpath);
-  free(wpath);
+  SDL_free(wpath);
 #else
   int err = mkdir(path, S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR|S_IXUSR|S_IRGRP|S_IXGRP|S_IROTH|S_IXOTH);
 #endif
@@ -799,7 +799,7 @@ static int f_sleep(lua_State *L) {
 static int f_exec(lua_State *L) {
   size_t len;
   const char *cmd = luaL_checklstring(L, 1, &len);
-  char *buf = malloc(len + 32);
+  char *buf = SDL_malloc(len + 32);
   if (!buf) { luaL_error(L, "buffer allocation failed"); }
 #if _WIN32
   sprintf(buf, "cmd /c \"%s\"", cmd);
@@ -809,7 +809,7 @@ static int f_exec(lua_State *L) {
   int res = system(buf);
   (void) res;
 #endif
-  free(buf);
+  SDL_free(buf);
   return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index b4db62a..c7ea09d 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -24,14 +24,14 @@ static SDL_Window *window;
 static void get_exe_filename(char *buf, int sz) {
 #if _WIN32
   int len;
-  wchar_t *buf_w = malloc(sizeof(wchar_t) * sz);
+  wchar_t *buf_w = SDL_malloc(sizeof(wchar_t) * sz);
   if (buf_w) {
     len = GetModuleFileNameW(NULL, buf_w, sz - 1);
     buf_w[len] = L'\0';
     // if the conversion failed we'll empty the string
     if (!WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, buf_w, -1, buf, sz, NULL, NULL))
       buf[0] = '\0';
-    free(buf_w);
+    SDL_free(buf_w);
   } else {
     buf[0] = '\0';
   }
diff --git a/src/rencache.c b/src/rencache.c
index 6bdf0b9..5c30652 100644
--- a/src/rencache.c
+++ b/src/rencache.c
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ static bool expand_command_buffer(RenWindow *window_renderer) {
   if (new_size == 0) {
     new_size = CMD_BUF_INIT_SIZE;
   }
-  uint8_t *new_command_buf = realloc(window_renderer->command_buf, new_size);
+  uint8_t *new_command_buf = SDL_realloc(window_renderer->command_buf, new_size);
   if (!new_command_buf) {
     return false;
   }
diff --git a/src/renderer.c b/src/renderer.c
index 6a124f0..990c1a9 100644
--- a/src/renderer.c
+++ b/src/renderer.c
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ static unsigned int font_get_glyph_id(RenFont *font, unsigned int codepoint) {
   if (codepoint > MAX_UNICODE) return 0;
   size_t row = codepoint / CHARMAP_COL;
   size_t col = codepoint - (row * CHARMAP_COL);
-  if (!font->charmap.rows[row]) font->charmap.rows[row] = check_alloc(calloc(sizeof(unsigned int), CHARMAP_COL));
+  if (!font->charmap.rows[row]) font->charmap.rows[row] = check_alloc(SDL_calloc(sizeof(unsigned int), CHARMAP_COL));
   if (font->charmap.rows[row][col] == 0) {
     unsigned int glyph_id = FT_Get_Char_Index(font->face, codepoint);
     // use -1 as a sentinel value for "glyph not available", a bit risky, but OpenType
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ static SDL_Surface *font_allocate_glyph_surface(RenFont *font, FT_GlyphSlot slot
   }
   if (atlas_idx < 0) {
     font->glyphs.atlas[glyph_format] = check_alloc(
-      realloc(font->glyphs.atlas[glyph_format], sizeof(GlyphAtlas) * (font->glyphs.natlas[glyph_format] + 1))
+      SDL_realloc(font->glyphs.atlas[glyph_format], sizeof(GlyphAtlas) * (font->glyphs.natlas[glyph_format] + 1))
     );
     font->glyphs.atlas[glyph_format][font->glyphs.natlas[glyph_format]] = (GlyphAtlas) {
       .width = metric->x1 + FONT_WIDTH_OVERFLOW_PX, .nsurface = 0,
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ static SDL_Surface *font_allocate_glyph_surface(RenFont *font, FT_GlyphSlot slot
     if (h <= FONT_HEIGHT_OVERFLOW_PX) h += font->size;
     int depth = 0;
     SDL_PixelFormat format = glyphformat_to_pixelformat(glyph_format, &depth);
-    atlas->surfaces = check_alloc(realloc(atlas->surfaces, sizeof(SDL_Surface *) * (atlas->nsurface + 1)));
+    atlas->surfaces = check_alloc(SDL_realloc(atlas->surfaces, sizeof(SDL_Surface *) * (atlas->nsurface + 1)));
     atlas->surfaces[atlas->nsurface] = check_alloc(SDL_CreateSurface(atlas->width, GLYPHS_PER_ATLAS * h, format));
     userdata = SDL_GetSurfaceProperties(atlas->surfaces[atlas->nsurface]);
     SDL_SetPointerProperty(userdata, "metric", NULL);
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ static GlyphMetric *font_load_glyph_metric(RenFont *font, unsigned int glyph_id,
     for (int i = 0; i < bitmaps; i++) {
       // save the metrics for all subpixel indexes
       if (!font->glyphs.metrics[i][row]) {
-        font->glyphs.metrics[i][row] = check_alloc(calloc(sizeof(GlyphMetric), GLYPHMAP_COL));
+        font->glyphs.metrics[i][row] = check_alloc(SDL_calloc(sizeof(GlyphMetric), GLYPHMAP_COL));
         font->glyphs.bytesize += sizeof(GlyphMetric) * GLYPHMAP_COL;
       }
       GlyphMetric *metric = &font->glyphs.metrics[i][row][col];
@@ -394,16 +394,16 @@ static void font_clear_glyph_cache(RenFont* font) {
       for (int surface_idx = 0; surface_idx < atlas->nsurface; surface_idx++) {
         SDL_DestroySurface(atlas->surfaces[surface_idx]);
       }
-      free(atlas->surfaces);
+      SDL_free(atlas->surfaces);
     }
-    free(font->glyphs.atlas[glyph_format_idx]);
+    SDL_free(font->glyphs.atlas[glyph_format_idx]);
     font->glyphs.atlas[glyph_format_idx] = NULL;
     font->glyphs.natlas[glyph_format_idx] = 0;
   }
   // clear glyph metric
   for (int subpixel_idx = 0; subpixel_idx < FONT_BITMAP_COUNT(font); subpixel_idx++) {
     for (int glyphmap_row = 0; glyphmap_row < GLYPHMAP_ROW; glyphmap_row++) {
-      free(font->glyphs.metrics[subpixel_idx][glyphmap_row]);
+      SDL_free(font->glyphs.metrics[subpixel_idx][glyphmap_row]);
       font->glyphs.metrics[subpixel_idx][glyphmap_row] = NULL;
     }
   }
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ static unsigned long font_file_read(FT_Stream stream, unsigned long offset, unsi
 static void font_file_close(FT_Stream stream) {
   if (stream && stream->descriptor.pointer)
     SDL_CloseIO((SDL_IOStream *) stream->descriptor.pointer);
-  free(stream);
+  SDL_free(stream);
 }
 
 static int font_set_face_metrics(RenFont *font, FT_Face face) {
@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ RenFont* ren_font_load(RenWindow *window_renderer, const char* path, float size,
   if (!file) return NULL; // error set by SDL_IOFromFile
   
   int len = strlen(path);
-  font = check_alloc(calloc(1, sizeof(RenFont) + len + 1));
+  font = check_alloc(SDL_calloc(1, sizeof(RenFont) + len + 1));
   strcpy(font->path, path);
   font->size = size;
   font->antialiasing = antialiasing;
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ RenFont* ren_font_load(RenWindow *window_renderer, const char* path, float size,
   font->scale = 1;
 #endif
 
-  stream = check_alloc(calloc(1, sizeof(FT_StreamRec)));
+  stream = check_alloc(SDL_calloc(1, sizeof(FT_StreamRec)));
   if (!stream) goto stream_failure;
   stream->read = &font_file_read;
   stream->close = &font_file_close;
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ stream_failure:
 failure:
   if (err != FT_Err_Ok) SDL_SetError("%s", get_ft_error(err));
   if (face) FT_Done_Face(face);
-  if (font) free(font);
+  if (font) SDL_free(font);
   return NULL;
 }
 
@@ -515,10 +515,10 @@ void ren_font_free(RenFont* font) {
   font_clear_glyph_cache(font);
   // free codepoint cache as well
   for (int i = 0; i < CHARMAP_ROW; i++) {
-    free(font->charmap.rows[i]);
+    SDL_free(font->charmap.rows[i]);
   }
   FT_Done_Face(font->face);
-  free(font);
+  SDL_free(font);
 }
 
 void ren_font_group_set_tab_size(RenFont **fonts, int n) {
@@ -734,7 +734,7 @@ void ren_draw_rect(RenSurface *rs, RenRect rect, RenColor color) {
 void ren_free_window_resources(RenWindow *window_renderer) {
   renwin_free(window_renderer);
   SDL_DestroySurface(draw_rect_surface);
-  free(window_renderer->command_buf);
+  SDL_free(window_renderer->command_buf);
   window_renderer->command_buf = NULL;
   window_renderer->command_buf_size = 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/utfconv.h b/src/utfconv.h
index d5d9092..f8af9aa 100644
--- a/src/utfconv.h
+++ b/src/utfconv.h
@@ -49,13 +49,13 @@ static UNUSED LPWSTR utfconv_utf8towc(const char *str) {
   if (len == 0)
     return NULL;
 
-  output = (LPWSTR) malloc(sizeof(WCHAR) * len);
+  output = (LPWSTR) SDL_malloc(sizeof(WCHAR) * len);
   if (output == NULL)
     return NULL;
 
   len = MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, str, -1, output, len);
   if (len == 0) {
-    free(output);
+    SDL_free(output);
     return NULL;
   }
 
@@ -71,13 +71,13 @@ static UNUSED char *utfconv_wctoutf8(LPCWSTR str) {
   if (len == 0)
     return NULL;
 
-  output = (char *) malloc(sizeof(char) * len);
+  output = (char *) SDL_malloc(sizeof(char) * len);
   if (output == NULL)
     return NULL;
 
   len = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, str, -1, output, len, NULL, NULL);
   if (len == 0) {
-    free(output);
+    SDL_free(output);
     return NULL;
   }