Go: Pointer vs. value receiver

Basics

• For a given type, don't mix value and pointer receivers.
• If in doubt, use pointer receivers (they are safe and extendable).

Pointer receivers

You must use pointer receivers

• if any method needs to mutate the receiver,
• for structs that contain a sync.Mutex or similar synchronizing field (they musn't be copied).

You probably want to use pointer receivers

• for large structs or arrays (it can be more efficient),
• in all other cases.

Value receivers

You probably want to use value receivers

• for map, func and chan types,
• for simple basic types such as int or string,
• for small arrays or structs that are value types, with no mutable fields and no pointers.

You may want to use value receivers

• for slices with methods that do not reslice or reallocate the slice.