Aspects of the disclosure provide for memory efficient persistent key value store for a solid state device (SSD). The methods and apparatus provide a non-volatile memory (NVM) and a key value store (KVS) processor. The non-volatile memory (NVM) is configured to store a key value data structure. The KVS processor is configured to receive a key value store (KVS) command from a host. The KVS processor is also configured to perform a key value store (KVS) operation on the key value data structure based on the received KVS command. The performing of the key value store (KVS) operation may include using an index structure to process the key value data structure based on the received KVS command. The KVS processor is further configured to provide a response to the host based on the KVS operation.