This would seem to be a very micro optimization, though. If you are in a tight loop, sure, but otherwise I would say that smart pointers are a rather low price

This would seem to be a very micro optimization, though. If you are in a tight loop, sure, but otherwise I would say that smart pointers are a rather low price to pay. And if you are in a tight loop it may be better to try to avoid memory allocations altogether and try to reuse objects instead. In any case the price of smart pointers is orders of magnitude smaller than the price of what passes as 'modern' software development.