diff --git a/.changeset/eighty-crabs-listen.md b/.changeset/eighty-crabs-listen.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7de904db8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/eighty-crabs-listen.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'openzeppelin-solidity': patch
+---
+
+Optimize `Strings.equal`
diff --git a/contracts/utils/Strings.sol b/contracts/utils/Strings.sol
index 33d7bbf59..050f6f9ca 100644
--- a/contracts/utils/Strings.sol
+++ b/contracts/utils/Strings.sol
@@ -80,6 +80,6 @@ library Strings {
      * @dev Returns true if the two strings are equal.
      */
     function equal(string memory a, string memory b) internal pure returns (bool) {
-        return keccak256(bytes(a)) == keccak256(bytes(b));
+        return bytes(a).length == bytes(b).length && keccak256(bytes(a)) == keccak256(bytes(b));
     }
 }