diff --git a/barretenberg/ts/src/barretenberg/index.ts b/barretenberg/ts/src/barretenberg/index.ts
index 73e935d33728..028bd7a87f1a 100644
--- a/barretenberg/ts/src/barretenberg/index.ts
+++ b/barretenberg/ts/src/barretenberg/index.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ const debug = createDebug('bb.js:wasm');
 
 export type BackendOptions = {
   threads?: number;
-  memory?: { initial?: number; maximum?: number };
+  memory?: { maximum: number };
 };
 
 /**
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export class Barretenberg extends BarretenbergApi {
     const worker = createMainWorker();
     const wasm = getRemoteBarretenbergWasm<BarretenbergWasmMainWorker>(worker);
     const { module, threads } = await fetchModuleAndThreads(desiredThreads);
-    await wasm.init(module, threads, proxy(debug), memory?.initial, memory?.maximum);
+    await wasm.init(module, threads, proxy(debug), memory?.maximum);
     return new Barretenberg(worker, wasm);
   }
 
diff --git a/barretenberg/ts/src/barretenberg_wasm/barretenberg_wasm_main/index.ts b/barretenberg/ts/src/barretenberg_wasm/barretenberg_wasm_main/index.ts
index f8c07e323b0e..bd64c6310f6a 100644
--- a/barretenberg/ts/src/barretenberg_wasm/barretenberg_wasm_main/index.ts
+++ b/barretenberg/ts/src/barretenberg_wasm/barretenberg_wasm_main/index.ts
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ export class BarretenbergWasmMain extends BarretenbergWasmBase {
     module: WebAssembly.Module,
     threads = Math.min(getNumCpu(), BarretenbergWasmMain.MAX_THREADS),
     logger: (msg: string) => void = debug,
-    initial = 26,
     maximum = 2 ** 16,
+    initial = 26,
   ) {
     this.logger = logger;
 
diff --git a/noir/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts b/noir/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts
index d79b487c3cf6..cbbd15e38b5a 100644
--- a/noir/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts
+++ b/noir/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { Backend, CompiledCircuit, ProofData } from '@noir-lang/types';
 import { BackendOptions } from './types.js';
 import { deflattenPublicInputs, flattenPublicInputsAsArray } from './public_inputs.js';
 import { type Barretenberg } from '@aztec/bb.js';
+import { cpus } from 'os';
 
 export { publicInputsToWitnessMap } from './public_inputs.js';
 
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ export class BarretenbergBackend implements Backend {
 
   constructor(
     acirCircuit: CompiledCircuit,
-    private options: BackendOptions = { threads: 1 },
+    private options: BackendOptions = { threads: navigator ? navigator.hardwareConcurrency : cpus().length },
   ) {
     const acirBytecodeBase64 = acirCircuit.bytecode;
     this.acirUncompressedBytecode = acirToUint8Array(acirBytecodeBase64);
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ export class BarretenbergBackend implements Backend {
   async instantiate(): Promise<void> {
     if (!this.api) {
       const { Barretenberg, RawBuffer, Crs } = await import('@aztec/bb.js');
-      const api = await Barretenberg.new({ threads: this.options.threads });
+      const api = await Barretenberg.new(this.options);
 
       const [_exact, _total, subgroupSize] = await api.acirGetCircuitSizes(this.acirUncompressedBytecode);
       const crs = await Crs.new(subgroupSize + 1);
diff --git a/noir/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/types.ts b/noir/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/types.ts
index 041e36fdf91c..ab5a89541de8 100644
--- a/noir/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/types.ts
+++ b/noir/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/types.ts
@@ -5,4 +5,6 @@
 export type BackendOptions = {
   /** @description Number of threads */
   threads: number;
+  /** @description Maximum memory to be allocated to the WASM (optional) */
+  memory?: { maximum: number };
 };