Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for managing non-uniform memory access (NUMA) in a database management system. An embodiment operates by receiving a request to load data from a disk into an in-memory database. An optimal one of the plurality of nodes onto which to load the data from the disk based on a system state is determined. It is determined whether the optimal node has sufficient free local memory in a free list to store the data. If the optimal node does not have sufficient free list memory, a memory allocation is requested from an operating system. An address of the memory storing the data is provided.