diff --git a/hedgehog/src/Hedgehog/Internal/Gen.hs b/hedgehog/src/Hedgehog/Internal/Gen.hs
index f181037a..b85aaeb7 100644
--- a/hedgehog/src/Hedgehog/Internal/Gen.hs
+++ b/hedgehog/src/Hedgehog/Internal/Gen.hs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK not-home #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE ApplicativeDo #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE BangPatterns #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE DataKinds #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE DeriveFoldable #-}
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE LambdaCase #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE PatternGuards #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE RankNTypes #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE StandaloneDeriving #-}
@@ -202,6 +204,8 @@ import           Data.Coerce (coerce)
 import           Data.Foldable (for_, toList)
 import           Data.Functor.Identity (Identity(..))
 import           Data.Int (Int8, Int16, Int32, Int64)
+import qualified Data.IntMap.Strict as IM
+import qualified Data.List as List
 import           Data.List.NonEmpty (NonEmpty)
 import qualified Data.List.NonEmpty as NonEmpty
 import           Data.Map (Map)
@@ -1170,28 +1174,38 @@ choice = \case
 --
 --   This generator shrinks towards the first generator in the list.
 --
---   /The input list must be non-empty./
+--   /The sum of the frequencies must be at least @1@ and at most @'maxBound' :: 'Int'@.
+--   No frequency may be negative./
 --
 frequency :: MonadGen m => [(Int, m a)] -> m a
-frequency = \case
-  [] ->
-    error "Hedgehog.Gen.frequency: used with empty list"
-  xs0 -> do
-    let
-      pick n = \case
-        [] ->
-          error "Hedgehog.Gen.frequency/pick: used with empty list"
-        (k, x) : xs ->
-          if n <= k then
-            x
-          else
-            pick (n - k) xs
-
-      total =
-        sum (fmap fst xs0)
-
+-- We calculate a running sum of the individual frequencies and build
+-- an IntMap mapping the results to the generators. This makes the
+-- resulting generator much faster than a naive list-based one when
+-- the input list is long, and not much slower when it's short.
+frequency xs0 =
+  do
     n <- integral $ Range.constant 1 total
-    pick n xs0
+    case IM.lookupGE n sum_map of
+      Just (_, a) -> a
+      Nothing -> error "Hedgehog.Gen.frequency: Something went wrong."
+    where
+      --[(1, x), (7, y), (10, z)]  In
+      --[(1, x), (8, y), (18, z)]  Out
+      sum_map = IM.fromDistinctAscList $ List.unfoldr go (0, xs0)
+        where
+          go (_, []) = Nothing
+          go (n, (k, x) : xs)
+            | k < 0 = error "Hedgehog.Gen.frequency: Negative frequency."
+              -- nk < 0 means the sum overflowed.
+            | nk < 0 = error "Hedgehog.Gen.frequency: Frequency sum above maxBound :: Int"
+            | k > 0 = Just ((nk, x), (nk, xs))
+            | otherwise = go (n, xs)
+            where !nk = n + fromIntegral k
+      total
+         | Just (mx, _) <- IM.lookupMax sum_map
+         = mx
+         | otherwise
+         = error "Hedgehog.Gen.frequency: frequencies sum to zero"
 
 -- | Modifies combinators which choose from a list of generators, like 'choice'
 --   or 'frequency', so that they can be used in recursive scenarios.