diff --git a/internal/monitoring/monitor.go b/internal/monitoring/monitor.go
index 358f66f909..1f33ab3d3c 100644
--- a/internal/monitoring/monitor.go
+++ b/internal/monitoring/monitor.go
@@ -5027,6 +5027,19 @@ func (m *Monitor) GetUnifiedReadState() unifiedresources.ReadState {
 // ephemeral snapshot-backed adapter to preserve read access without exposing
 // direct state reads to consumer packages.
 func (m *Monitor) GetUnifiedReadStateOrSnapshot() unifiedresources.ReadState {
+	if m == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	// A store that is itself the read state needs no view. Building one
+	// deep-clones every resource, twice, only for this caller to discard the
+	// copies, and alert evaluation reaches here once per resource per poll
+	// through the default CPU evaluation window, which made every poll cost
+	// grow with the square of the estate (#2199).
+	if !mock.IsMockEnabled() {
+		if readState := m.GetUnifiedReadState(); readState != nil {
+			return m.readStateWithStandaloneHostContinuity(readState)
+		}
+	}
 	return m.currentUnifiedStateView().readState
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/monitoring/unified_read_state_clone_test.go b/internal/monitoring/unified_read_state_clone_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..06e72b0b1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/monitoring/unified_read_state_clone_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+package monitoring
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/rcourtman/pulse-go-rewrite/internal/models"
+	"github.com/rcourtman/pulse-go-rewrite/internal/unifiedresources"
+)
+
+// Alert evaluation resolves a metrics target once per resource per poll, so a
+// read-state lookup that copies the registry makes every poll quadratic in
+// estate size (#2199). These tests pin the lookup to the live store.
+
+func newReadStateCloneTestMonitor(t testing.TB, vms int) (*Monitor, *unifiedresources.MonitorAdapter, string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	now := time.Now().UTC()
+	snapshot := models.StateSnapshot{LastUpdate: now}
+	for i := 0; i < vms; i++ {
+		snapshot.VMs = append(snapshot.VMs, models.VM{
+			ID:       fmt.Sprintf("lab:pve-%d:%d", i%8, 100+i),
+			VMID:     100 + i,
+			Name:     fmt.Sprintf("vm-%d", i),
+			Node:     fmt.Sprintf("pve-%d", i%8),
+			Instance: "lab",
+			Status:   "running",
+			Type:     "qemu",
+			CPU:      0.1,
+			Memory:   models.Memory{Total: 4 << 30, Used: 1 << 30},
+			LastSeen: now,
+		})
+	}
+	registry := unifiedresources.NewRegistry(nil)
+	registry.IngestSnapshot(snapshot)
+	adapter := unifiedresources.NewMonitorAdapter(registry)
+	m := &Monitor{state: models.NewState(), resourceStore: adapter}
+
+	vmID := ""
+	for _, resource := range adapter.GetAll() {
+		if resource.Type == unifiedresources.ResourceTypeVM {
+			vmID = resource.ID
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if vmID == "" {
+		t.Fatal("fixture produced no VM resource")
+	}
+	return m, adapter, vmID
+}
+
+func TestGetUnifiedReadStateOrSnapshotReturnsLiveStore(t *testing.T) {
+	m, adapter, _ := newReadStateCloneTestMonitor(t, 4)
+
+	readState := m.GetUnifiedReadStateOrSnapshot()
+	got, ok := readState.(*unifiedresources.MonitorAdapter)
+	if !ok || got != adapter {
+		t.Fatalf("read state = %T %p, want the configured store %p", readState, got, adapter)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestMetricsTargetForResourceDoesNotCopyRegistry(t *testing.T) {
+	small, _, smallID := newReadStateCloneTestMonitor(t, 8)
+	large, _, largeID := newReadStateCloneTestMonitor(t, 1000)
+	if small.MetricsTargetForResource(smallID) == nil || large.MetricsTargetForResource(largeID) == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected metrics targets for fixture VMs")
+	}
+
+	smallAllocs := testing.AllocsPerRun(20, func() { _ = small.MetricsTargetForResource(smallID) })
+	largeAllocs := testing.AllocsPerRun(20, func() { _ = large.MetricsTargetForResource(largeID) })
+	// A registry copy costs several allocations per resource, so any growth
+	// from 8 to 1,000 resources means the lookup is copying the estate again.
+	if largeAllocs > smallAllocs+8 {
+		t.Fatalf("MetricsTargetForResource allocations grew with estate size: %.0f at 8 VMs, %.0f at 1000 VMs", smallAllocs, largeAllocs)
+	}
+}