diff --git a/pkg/server/server.go b/pkg/server/server.go
index 7a1570ec..5552af69 100644
--- a/pkg/server/server.go
+++ b/pkg/server/server.go
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ func setup(ctx context.Context, server *Server) error {
 	if server.SQLCache {
 		sqlStore, err := sqlproxy.NewProxyStore(ctx, cols, cf, summaryCache, summaryCache, server.cacheFactory, false)
 		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
+			return err
 		}
 
 		errStore := proxy.NewErrorStore(
diff --git a/pkg/sqlcache/db/encoding.go b/pkg/sqlcache/db/encoding.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..101450a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sqlcache/db/encoding.go
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+package db
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"compress/gzip"
+	"encoding/gob"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"reflect"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+)
+
+func init() {
+	// necessary in order to gob/ungob unstructured.Unstructured objects
+	gob.Register(map[string]any{})
+	gob.Register([]any{})
+}
+
+type encoding interface {
+	// Encode serializes an object into the provided writer
+	Encode(io.Writer, any) error
+	// Decode reads from a provided reader and deserializes into an object
+	Decode(io.Reader, any) error
+}
+
+type gobEncoding struct {
+	writeLock, readLock sync.Mutex
+	writeBuf, readBuf   bytes.Buffer
+	encoder             *gob.Encoder
+	decoder             *gob.Decoder
+	seenTypes           map[reflect.Type]struct{}
+}
+
+func (g *gobEncoding) Encode(w io.Writer, obj any) error {
+	g.writeLock.Lock()
+	defer g.writeLock.Unlock()
+
+	if g.encoder == nil {
+		g.encoder = gob.NewEncoder(&g.writeBuf)
+	}
+
+	g.writeBuf.Reset()
+	if err := g.encoder.Encode(obj); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if err := g.registerTypeIfNeeded(obj); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	_, err := g.writeBuf.WriteTo(w)
+	return err
+}
+
+// registerTypeIfNeeded prevents future decoding errors by running Decode right after the first Encode for an object type
+// This is needed when reusing a gob.Encoder, as it assumes the receiving end of those messages is always the same gob.Decoder.
+// Due to this assumption, it applies some optimizations, like avoiding sending complete type's information (needed for decoding) if it already did it before.
+// This means the first object for each type encoded by a gob.Encoder will have a bigger payload, but more importantly,
+// the decoding will fail if this is not the first object being decoded later. This function forces that to prevent this from happening.
+func (g *gobEncoding) registerTypeIfNeeded(obj any) error {
+	if g.seenTypes == nil {
+		g.seenTypes = make(map[reflect.Type]struct{})
+	}
+
+	typ := reflect.TypeOf(obj)
+	if _, ok := g.seenTypes[typ]; !ok {
+		g.seenTypes[typ] = struct{}{}
+		// Consume the current write buffer and re-generate it (will produce a smaller version)
+		newObj := reflect.New(typ).Interface()
+		if err := g.Decode(bytes.NewReader(g.writeBuf.Bytes()), newObj); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("could not decode %T: %w", obj, err)
+		}
+
+		g.writeBuf.Reset()
+		return g.encoder.Encode(obj)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (g *gobEncoding) Decode(r io.Reader, into any) error {
+	g.readLock.Lock()
+	defer g.readLock.Unlock()
+
+	if g.decoder == nil {
+		g.decoder = gob.NewDecoder(&g.readBuf)
+	}
+
+	g.readBuf.Reset()
+	if _, err := g.readBuf.ReadFrom(r); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return g.decoder.Decode(into)
+}
+
+type jsonEncoding struct {
+	indentLevel int
+}
+
+func (j jsonEncoding) Encode(w io.Writer, obj any) error {
+	enc := json.NewEncoder(w)
+	if j.indentLevel > 0 {
+		enc.SetIndent("", strings.Repeat(" ", j.indentLevel))
+	}
+
+	if err := enc.Encode(obj); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (j jsonEncoding) Decode(r io.Reader, into any) error {
+	return json.NewDecoder(r).Decode(into)
+}
+
+type gzipEncoding struct {
+	encoding
+	writers sync.Pool
+	readers sync.Pool
+}
+
+func gzipped(wrapped encoding) *gzipEncoding {
+	gz := gzipEncoding{
+		encoding: wrapped,
+	}
+	return &gz
+}
+
+func (gz *gzipEncoding) Encode(w io.Writer, obj any) error {
+	gzw, ok := gz.writers.Get().(*gzip.Writer)
+	if !ok {
+		gzw = gzip.NewWriter(io.Discard)
+	}
+	gzw.Reset(w)
+	defer func() {
+		gzw.Reset(nil)
+		gz.writers.Put(gzw)
+	}()
+
+	if err := gz.encoding.Encode(gzw, obj); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return gzw.Close()
+}
+
+func (gz *gzipEncoding) Decode(r io.Reader, into any) error {
+	gzr, ok := gz.readers.Get().(*gzip.Reader)
+	if ok {
+		if err := gzr.Reset(r); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	} else {
+		var err error
+		gzr, err = gzip.NewReader(r)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	defer func() {
+		gzr.Close()
+		gz.readers.Put(gzr)
+	}()
+
+	if err := gz.encoding.Decode(gzr, into); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return gzr.Close()
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sqlcache/db/encoding_test.go b/pkg/sqlcache/db/encoding_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cefdc7e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sqlcache/db/encoding_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+package db
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"io"
+	"math/rand"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+)
+
+var random = rand.New(rand.NewSource(0))
+
+func TestEquality(t *testing.T) {
+	testObject := &corev1.Pod{
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+			Namespace:   "default",
+			Name:        "test",
+			Annotations: map[string]string{"annotation": "test"},
+			Labels:      map[string]string{"label": "test"},
+		},
+		Spec: corev1.PodSpec{
+			Containers: []corev1.Container{{
+				Name:  "test",
+				Image: "testimage",
+				VolumeMounts: []corev1.VolumeMount{{
+					Name:      "test",
+					MountPath: "/test",
+				}},
+			}},
+			Volumes: []corev1.Volume{{
+				Name: "test",
+				VolumeSource: corev1.VolumeSource{
+					EmptyDir: &corev1.EmptyDirVolumeSource{},
+				},
+			}},
+		},
+	}
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		encoding encoding
+	}{
+		{name: "gob", encoding: &gobEncoding{}},
+		{name: "json", encoding: &jsonEncoding{}},
+		{name: "gob+gz", encoding: gzipped(&gobEncoding{})},
+		{name: "json+gz", encoding: gzipped(&jsonEncoding{})},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var buf bytes.Buffer
+			if err := tt.encoding.Encode(&buf, testObject); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			var dest *corev1.Pod
+			if err := tt.encoding.Decode(bytes.NewReader(buf.Bytes()), &dest); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			assert.Equal(t, testObject, dest)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkEncodings(b *testing.B) {
+	cm := &corev1.ConfigMap{
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+			Namespace: "default",
+			Name:      "test",
+		},
+		// a single entry map with 10K zero characters should account for ~10KB ConfigMap size,
+		Data: generateTestData(10000),
+	}
+	pod := &corev1.Pod{
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+			Namespace:   "default",
+			Name:        "test",
+			Annotations: map[string]string{"annotation": "test"},
+			Labels:      map[string]string{"label": "test"},
+		},
+		Spec: corev1.PodSpec{
+			Containers: []corev1.Container{{
+				Name:  "test",
+				Image: "testimage",
+				VolumeMounts: []corev1.VolumeMount{{
+					Name:      "test",
+					MountPath: "/test",
+				}},
+			}},
+			Volumes: []corev1.Volume{{
+				Name: "test",
+				VolumeSource: corev1.VolumeSource{
+					EmptyDir: &corev1.EmptyDirVolumeSource{},
+				},
+			}},
+		},
+	}
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name       string
+		encoding   encoding
+		testObject any
+	}{
+		{name: "gob", encoding: &gobEncoding{}},
+		{name: "json", encoding: &jsonEncoding{}},
+		{name: "gob+gzip", encoding: gzipped(&gobEncoding{})},
+		{name: "json+gzip", encoding: gzipped(&jsonEncoding{})},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		for objType, testObject := range map[string]any{
+			"10KB-configmap": cm,
+			"pod":            pod,
+		} {
+			b.Run(tt.name+"-"+objType, func(b *testing.B) {
+				b.Run("encoding", func(b *testing.B) {
+					for b.Loop() {
+						w := new(discardWriter)
+						if err := tt.encoding.Encode(w, testObject); err != nil {
+							b.Error(err)
+						}
+						b.ReportMetric(float64(w.count), "bytes")
+					}
+				})
+
+				var buf bytes.Buffer
+				if err := tt.encoding.Encode(&buf, testObject); err != nil {
+					b.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				serialized := buf.Bytes()
+				b.Run("decoding", func(b *testing.B) {
+					var dest corev1.ConfigMap
+					for b.Loop() {
+						if err := tt.encoding.Decode(bytes.NewReader(serialized), &dest); err != nil {
+							b.Fatal(err)
+						}
+					}
+				})
+			})
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+type discardWriter struct {
+	count int
+}
+
+func (d *discardWriter) Write(p []byte) (int, error) {
+	n, err := io.Discard.Write(p)
+	d.count += n
+	return n, err
+}
+
+// single-entry map, whose value is a randomly-generated string of n size
+func generateTestData(n int) map[string]string {
+	const letters = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
+	b := make([]byte, n)
+	for i := range b {
+		b[i] = letters[random.Int63()%int64(len(letters))]
+	}
+	return map[string]string{
+		"data": string(b),
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sqlcache/store/store.go b/pkg/sqlcache/store/store.go
index 3c73a477..8c6a01f5 100644
--- a/pkg/sqlcache/store/store.go
+++ b/pkg/sqlcache/store/store.go
@@ -79,13 +79,17 @@ var _ cache.Store = (*Store)(nil)
 
 // NewStore creates a SQLite-backed cache.Store for objects of the given example type
 func NewStore(ctx context.Context, example any, keyFunc cache.KeyFunc, c db.Client, shouldEncrypt bool, gvk schema.GroupVersionKind, name string, externalUpdateInfo *sqltypes.ExternalGVKUpdates, selfUpdateInfo *sqltypes.ExternalGVKUpdates) (*Store, error) {
+	exampleType := reflect.TypeOf(example)
+	if exampleType.Kind() != reflect.Ptr {
+		exampleType = reflect.PointerTo(exampleType).Elem()
+	}
 	s := &Store{
 		ctx:                ctx,
 		name:               name,
 		gvk:                gvk,
 		externalUpdateInfo: externalUpdateInfo,
 		selfUpdateInfo:     selfUpdateInfo,
-		typ:                reflect.TypeOf(example),
+		typ:                exampleType,
 		Client:             c,
 		keyFunc:            keyFunc,
 		shouldEncrypt:      shouldEncrypt,