diff --git a/src/flow-hash.c b/src/flow-hash.c
index 9801dfde90..89180d7ad8 100644
--- a/src/flow-hash.c
+++ b/src/flow-hash.c
@@ -840,23 +840,18 @@ Flow *FlowGetFlowFromHash(ThreadVars *tv, FlowLookupStruct *fls, Packet *p, Flow
                                FlowIsTimedOut(f, (uint32_t)SCTIME_SECS(p->ts), emerg));
         if (timedout) {
             FLOWLOCK_WRLOCK(f);
-            if (likely(f->use_cnt == 0)) {
-                next_f = f->next;
-                MoveToWorkQueue(tv, fls, fb, f, prev_f);
-                FLOWLOCK_UNLOCK(f);
-                goto flow_removed;
-            }
+            next_f = f->next;
+            MoveToWorkQueue(tv, fls, fb, f, prev_f);
             FLOWLOCK_UNLOCK(f);
+            goto flow_removed;
         } else if (FlowCompare(f, p) != 0) {
             FLOWLOCK_WRLOCK(f);
             /* found a matching flow that is not timed out */
             if (unlikely(TcpSessionPacketSsnReuse(p, f, f->protoctx) == 1)) {
                 Flow *new_f = TcpReuseReplace(tv, fls, fb, f, hash, p);
-                if (likely(f->use_cnt == 0)) {
-                    if (prev_f == NULL) /* if we have no prev it means new_f is now our prev */
-                        prev_f = new_f;
-                    MoveToWorkQueue(tv, fls, fb, f, prev_f); /* evict old flow */
-                }
+                if (prev_f == NULL) /* if we have no prev it means new_f is now our prev */
+                    prev_f = new_f;
+                MoveToWorkQueue(tv, fls, fb, f, prev_f); /* evict old flow */
                 FLOWLOCK_UNLOCK(f); /* unlock old replaced flow */
 
                 if (new_f == NULL) {
@@ -1150,8 +1145,8 @@ static inline bool StillAlive(const Flow *f, const SCTime_t ts)
  *
  *  Called in conditions where the spare queue is empty and memcap is reached.
  *
- *  Walks the hash until a flow can be freed. Timeouts are disregarded, use_cnt
- *  is adhered to. "flow_prune_idx" atomic int makes sure we don't start at the
+ *  Walks the hash until a flow can be freed. Timeouts are disregarded.
+ *  "flow_prune_idx" atomic int makes sure we don't start at the
  *  top each time since that would clear the top of the hash leading to longer
  *  and longer search times under high pressure (observed).
  *
@@ -1195,15 +1190,6 @@ static Flow *FlowGetUsedFlow(ThreadVars *tv, DecodeThreadVars *dtv, const SCTime
             continue;
         }
 
-        /** never prune a flow that is used by a packet or stream msg
-         *  we are currently processing in one of the threads */
-        if (f->use_cnt > 0) {
-            STATSADDUI64(counter_flow_get_used_eval_busy, 1);
-            FBLOCK_UNLOCK(fb);
-            FLOWLOCK_UNLOCK(f);
-            continue;
-        }
-
         if (StillAlive(f, ts)) {
             STATSADDUI64(counter_flow_get_used_eval_reject, 1);
             FBLOCK_UNLOCK(fb);
diff --git a/src/flow-manager.c b/src/flow-manager.c
index 25bd114e1e..264a030ca6 100644
--- a/src/flow-manager.c
+++ b/src/flow-manager.c
@@ -348,12 +348,9 @@ static void FlowManagerHashRowTimeout(FlowManagerTimeoutThread *td, Flow *f, SCT
 
         /* never prune a flow that is used by a packet we
          * are currently processing in one of the threads */
-        if (f->use_cnt > 0 || !FlowBypassedTimeout(f, ts, counters)) {
+        if (!FlowBypassedTimeout(f, ts, counters)) {
             FLOWLOCK_UNLOCK(f);
             prev_f = f;
-            if (f->use_cnt > 0) {
-                counters->flows_timeout_inuse++;
-            }
             f = f->next;
             continue;
         }
@@ -384,8 +381,6 @@ static void FlowManagerHashRowClearEvictedList(
         f->next = NULL;
         f->fb = NULL;
 
-        DEBUG_VALIDATE_BUG_ON(f->use_cnt > 0);
-
         FlowQueuePrivateAppendFlow(&td->aside_queue, f);
         /* flow is still locked in the queue */
 
@@ -545,7 +540,7 @@ static uint32_t FlowManagerHashRowCleanup(Flow *f, FlowQueuePrivate *recycle_q,
         }
         f->flow_end_flags |= FLOW_END_FLAG_SHUTDOWN;
 
-        /* no one is referring to this flow, use_cnt 0, removed from hash
+        /* no one is referring to this flow, removed from hash
          * so we can unlock it and move it to the recycle queue. */
         FLOWLOCK_UNLOCK(f);
         FlowQueuePrivateAppendFlow(recycle_q, f);
diff --git a/src/flow-util.h b/src/flow-util.h
index 52ffe1d61d..8c8adfc873 100644
--- a/src/flow-util.h
+++ b/src/flow-util.h
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@
         (f)->vlan_idx = 0;                                                                         \
         (f)->next = NULL;                                                                          \
         (f)->flow_state = 0;                                                                       \
-        (f)->use_cnt = 0;                                                                          \
         (f)->tenant_id = 0;                                                                        \
         (f)->parent_id = 0;                                                                        \
         (f)->probing_parser_toserver_alproto_masks = 0;                                            \
@@ -94,7 +93,6 @@
         (f)->timeout_at = 0;                                                                       \
         (f)->timeout_policy = 0;                                                                   \
         (f)->flow_state = 0;                                                                       \
-        (f)->use_cnt = 0;                                                                          \
         (f)->tenant_id = 0;                                                                        \
         (f)->parent_id = 0;                                                                        \
         (f)->probing_parser_toserver_alproto_masks = 0;                                            \
diff --git a/src/flow-worker.c b/src/flow-worker.c
index 5e4588ff4b..8a6928af5f 100644
--- a/src/flow-worker.c
+++ b/src/flow-worker.c
@@ -189,10 +189,7 @@ static void CheckWorkQueue(ThreadVars *tv, FlowWorkerThreadData *fw,
             }
         }
 
-        /* this should not be possible */
-        BUG_ON(f->use_cnt > 0);
-
-        /* no one is referring to this flow, use_cnt 0, removed from hash
+        /* no one is referring to this flow, removed from hash
          * so we can unlock it and pass it to the flow recycler */
 
         if (fw->output_thread_flow != NULL)
diff --git a/src/flow.c b/src/flow.c
index 24f1d4fe2f..42be3795cd 100644
--- a/src/flow.c
+++ b/src/flow.c
@@ -699,7 +699,6 @@ void FlowShutdown(void)
         for (uint32_t u = 0; u < flow_config.hash_size; u++) {
             f = flow_hash[u].head;
             while (f) {
-                DEBUG_VALIDATE_BUG_ON(f->use_cnt != 0);
                 Flow *n = f->next;
                 uint8_t proto_map = FlowGetProtoMapping(f->proto);
                 FlowClearMemory(f, proto_map);
@@ -708,7 +707,6 @@ void FlowShutdown(void)
             }
             f = flow_hash[u].evicted;
             while (f) {
-                DEBUG_VALIDATE_BUG_ON(f->use_cnt != 0);
                 Flow *n = f->next;
                 uint8_t proto_map = FlowGetProtoMapping(f->proto);
                 FlowClearMemory(f, proto_map);
diff --git a/src/flow.h b/src/flow.h
index 7c7d757448..1eb08a3f35 100644
--- a/src/flow.h
+++ b/src/flow.h
@@ -379,12 +379,6 @@ typedef struct Flow_
     uint8_t proto;
     uint8_t recursion_level;
     uint16_t vlan_id[2];
-    /** how many references exist to this flow *right now*
-     *
-     *  On receiving a packet the counter is incremented while the flow
-     *  bucked is locked, which is also the case on timeout pruning.
-     */
-    FlowRefCount use_cnt;
 
     uint8_t vlan_idx;
 
@@ -644,33 +638,7 @@ static inline void FlowSetNoPayloadInspectionFlag(Flow *f)
     SCReturn;
 }
 
-/**
- *  \brief increase the use count of a flow
- *
- *  \param f flow to decrease use count for
- */
-static inline void FlowIncrUsecnt(Flow *f)
-{
-    if (f == NULL)
-        return;
-
-    f->use_cnt++;
-}
-
-/**
- *  \brief decrease the use count of a flow
- *
- *  \param f flow to decrease use count for
- */
-static inline void FlowDecrUsecnt(Flow *f)
-{
-    if (f == NULL)
-        return;
-
-    f->use_cnt--;
-}
-
-/** \brief Reference the flow, bumping the flows use_cnt
+/** \brief Reference the flow
  *  \note This should only be called once for a destination
  *        pointer */
 static inline void FlowReference(Flow **d, Flow *f)
@@ -682,7 +650,6 @@ static inline void FlowReference(Flow **d, Flow *f)
         if (*d == f)
             return;
 #endif
-        FlowIncrUsecnt(f);
         *d = f;
     }
 }
@@ -690,7 +657,6 @@ static inline void FlowReference(Flow **d, Flow *f)
 static inline void FlowDeReference(Flow **d)
 {
     if (likely(*d != NULL)) {
-        FlowDecrUsecnt(*d);
         *d = NULL;
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/stream-tcp.c b/src/stream-tcp.c
index 59fa5965a1..c23c547ab6 100644
--- a/src/stream-tcp.c
+++ b/src/stream-tcp.c
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ void StreamTcpSessionCleanup(TcpSession *ssn)
  *
  *  This function is called when the flow is destroyed, so it should free
  *  *everything* related to the tcp session. So including the app layer
- *  data. We are guaranteed to only get here when the flow's use_cnt is 0.
+ *  data.
  *
  *  \param ssn Void ptr to the ssn.
  */
@@ -269,11 +269,6 @@ void StreamTcpSessionClear(void *ssnptr)
 /**
  *  \brief Function to return the stream segments back to the pool.
  *
- *  We don't clear out the app layer storage here as that is under protection
- *  of the "use_cnt" reference counter in the flow. This function is called
- *  when the use_cnt is always at least 1 (this pkt has incremented the flow
- *  use_cnt itself), so we don't bother.
- *
  *  \param p Packet used to identify the stream.
  */
 void StreamTcpSessionPktFree (Packet *p)
diff --git a/src/util-unittest-helper.c b/src/util-unittest-helper.c
index f0c7de3d5d..35eeb9146e 100644
--- a/src/util-unittest-helper.c
+++ b/src/util-unittest-helper.c
@@ -908,7 +908,6 @@ uint32_t UTHBuildPacketOfFlows(uint32_t start, uint32_t end, uint8_t dir)
         }
         FlowHandlePacket(NULL, &fls, p);
         if (p->flow != NULL) {
-            p->flow->use_cnt = 0;
             FLOWLOCK_UNLOCK(p->flow);
         }