diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+0.2.1.0
+
+* Make the behavior of the benchmarking functions independent of the
+  `-fspec-const-count` limit.
+
 0.2.0.0
 
 * Add a `measPeakMbAllocated` field to `Measured` for reporting maximum
diff --git a/criterion-measurement.cabal b/criterion-measurement.cabal
--- a/criterion-measurement.cabal
+++ b/criterion-measurement.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                criterion-measurement
-version:             0.2.0.0
+version:             0.2.1.0
 synopsis:            Criterion measurement functionality and associated types
 description:         Measurement-related functionality extracted from Criterion, with minimal dependencies. The rationale for this is to enable alternative analysis front-ends.
 homepage:            https://github.com/haskell/criterion
@@ -42,10 +42,8 @@
                      , binary >= 0.5.1.0
                      , containers
                      , deepseq >= 1.1.0.0
+                     , ghc-prim
                      , vector >= 0.7.1
-  if impl(ghc < 7.6)
-    build-depends:
-      ghc-prim
 
   default-language: Haskell2010
   ghc-options: -Wall -funbox-strict-fields
diff --git a/src/Criterion/Measurement/Types/Internal.hs b/src/Criterion/Measurement/Types/Internal.hs
--- a/src/Criterion/Measurement/Types/Internal.hs
+++ b/src/Criterion/Measurement/Types/Internal.hs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE BangPatterns #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 
 -- Ensure that nf' and whnf' are always optimized, even if
 -- criterion-measurement is compiled with -O0 or -fprof-auto (see #184).
@@ -17,11 +18,22 @@
 -- Portability : GHC
 --
 -- Exports 'fakeEnvironment'.
-module Criterion.Measurement.Types.Internal (fakeEnvironment, nf', whnf') where
+module Criterion.Measurement.Types.Internal
+  ( fakeEnvironment
+  , nf'
+  , whnf'
+  , SPEC(..)
+  ) where
 
 import Data.Int (Int64)
 import Control.Exception
 
+#if MIN_VERSION_ghc_prim(0,3,1)
+import GHC.Types (SPEC(..))
+#else
+import GHC.Exts (SpecConstrAnnotation(..))
+#endif
+
 -- | A dummy environment that is passed to functions that create benchmarks
 -- from environments when no concrete environment is available.
 fakeEnvironment :: env
@@ -46,6 +58,9 @@
 -- benchmark code itself could be changed by the user's optimization level. By
 -- marking them @NOINLINE@, the core benchmark code is always the same.
 --
+-- To ensure that the behavior of these functions remains independent of
+-- -fspec-constr-count, we force SpecConst optimization by passing SPEC.
+--
 -- Finally, it's important that both branches of the loop depend on the state
 -- token from the IO action. This is achieved by using `evaluate` rather than `let !y = f x`
 -- in order to force the value to whnf. `evaluate` is in the IO monad and therefore the state
@@ -61,21 +76,30 @@
 -- | Generate a function which applies an argument to a function a
 -- given number of times, reducing the result to normal form.
 nf' :: (b -> ()) -> (a -> b) -> a -> (Int64 -> IO ())
-nf' reduce f x = go
+nf' reduce f x = go SPEC
   where
-    go n | n <= 0    = return ()
-         | otherwise = do
-            y <- evaluate (f x)
-            reduce y `seq` go (n-1)
+    go :: SPEC -> Int64 -> IO ()
+    go !_ n
+      | n <= 0    = return ()
+      | otherwise = do
+         y <- evaluate (f x)
+         reduce y `seq` go SPEC (n-1)
 {-# NOINLINE nf' #-}
 
 -- | Generate a function which applies an argument to a function a
 -- given number of times.
 whnf' :: (a -> b) -> a -> (Int64 -> IO ())
-whnf' f x = go
+whnf' f x = go SPEC
   where
-    go n | n <= 0    = return ()
-         | otherwise = do
-            _ <- evaluate (f x)
-            go (n-1)
+    go :: SPEC -> Int64 -> IO ()
+    go !_ n
+      | n <= 0    = return ()
+      | otherwise = do
+         _ <- evaluate (f x)
+         go SPEC (n-1)
 {-# NOINLINE whnf' #-}
+
+#if !(MIN_VERSION_ghc_prim(0,3,1))
+data SPEC = SPEC | SPEC2
+{-# ANN type SPEC ForceSpecConstr #-}
+#endif