The ratio of elements to nodes is approximately 5:1 for a tetrahedral mesh. For example, if 5 million tetrahedral elements are in a mesh, then there are approximately 1 million nodes. This is in contrast to a hexahedral mesh where the ratio of elements to nodes approaches 1:1 as the grid becomes large.

Memory required for a tetrahedral mesh is about 0.4 times the memory required for a hex mesh of the same number of elements. Alternatively a tetrahedral mesh has about 2 times the required memory of a hexahedral mesh with the same number of nodes.