diff --git a/test/meson.build b/test/meson.build
index 8b4b83f78..371b7ef8a 100644
--- a/test/meson.build
+++ b/test/meson.build
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@ subdir('api')
 subdir('shape')
 subdir('subset')
 subdir('fuzzing')
+subdir('threads')
diff --git a/test/threads/hb-shape-threads.cc b/test/threads/hb-shape-threads.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fc0286d16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/threads/hb-shape-threads.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+#include <cstring>
+#include <thread>
+#include <vector>
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include "config.h"
+#endif
+
+#include "hb.h"
+#include "hb-ot.h"
+#ifdef HAVE_FREETYPE
+#include "hb-ft.h"
+#endif
+
+#define SUBSET_FONT_BASE_PATH "test/subset/data/fonts/"
+
+struct test_input_t
+{
+  const char *text_path;
+  const char *font_path;
+  bool is_variable;
+} default_tests[] =
+{
+  {"perf/texts/fa-thelittleprince.txt",
+   "perf/fonts/Amiri-Regular.ttf",
+   false},
+
+  {"perf/texts/fa-thelittleprince.txt",
+   "perf/fonts/NotoNastaliqUrdu-Regular.ttf",
+   false},
+
+  {"perf/texts/fa-monologue.txt",
+   "perf/fonts/Amiri-Regular.ttf",
+   false},
+
+  {"perf/texts/fa-monologue.txt",
+   "perf/fonts/NotoNastaliqUrdu-Regular.ttf",
+   false},
+
+  {"perf/texts/en-thelittleprince.txt",
+   "perf/fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf",
+   false},
+
+  {"perf/texts/en-thelittleprince.txt",
+   SUBSET_FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf",
+   true},
+
+  {"perf/texts/en-words.txt",
+   "perf/fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf",
+   false},
+
+  {"perf/texts/en-words.txt",
+   SUBSET_FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf",
+   true},
+};
+
+test_input_t *tests = default_tests;
+unsigned num_tests = sizeof (default_tests) / sizeof (default_tests[0]);
+
+enum backend_t { HARFBUZZ, FREETYPE };
+
+static unsigned num_repetitions = 4;
+static unsigned num_threads = 4;
+
+static void shape (bool is_var,
+		   backend_t backend,
+		   const test_input_t &input)
+{
+  hb_font_t *font;
+  {
+    hb_blob_t *blob = hb_blob_create_from_file_or_fail (input.font_path);
+    assert (blob);
+    hb_face_t *face = hb_face_create (blob, 0);
+    hb_blob_destroy (blob);
+    font = hb_font_create (face);
+    hb_face_destroy (face);
+  }
+
+  if (is_var)
+  {
+    hb_variation_t wght = {HB_TAG ('w','g','h','t'), 500};
+    hb_font_set_variations (font, &wght, 1);
+  }
+
+  switch (backend)
+  {
+    case HARFBUZZ:
+      hb_ot_font_set_funcs (font);
+      break;
+
+    case FREETYPE:
+#ifdef HAVE_FREETYPE
+      hb_ft_font_set_funcs (font);
+#endif
+      break;
+  }
+
+  hb_blob_t *text_blob = hb_blob_create_from_file_or_fail (input.text_path);
+  assert (text_blob);
+  unsigned orig_text_length;
+  const char *orig_text = hb_blob_get_data (text_blob, &orig_text_length);
+
+  hb_buffer_t *buf = hb_buffer_create ();
+  for (unsigned i = 0; i < num_repetitions; i++)
+  {
+    unsigned text_length = orig_text_length;
+    const char *text = orig_text;
+
+    const char *end;
+    while ((end = (const char *) memchr (text, '\n', text_length)))
+    {
+      hb_buffer_clear_contents (buf);
+      hb_buffer_add_utf8 (buf, text, text_length, 0, end - text);
+      hb_buffer_guess_segment_properties (buf);
+      hb_shape (font, buf, nullptr, 0);
+
+      unsigned skip = end - text + 1;
+      text_length -= skip;
+      text += skip;
+    }
+  }
+  hb_buffer_destroy (buf);
+
+  hb_blob_destroy (text_blob);
+  hb_font_destroy (font);
+}
+
+static void test_backend (backend_t backend,
+			  const char *backend_name,
+			  bool variable,
+			  const test_input_t &test_input)
+{
+  char name[1024] = "BM_Shape";
+  const char *p;
+  strcat (name, "/");
+  p = strrchr (test_input.text_path, '/');
+  strcat (name, p ? p + 1 : test_input.text_path);
+  strcat (name, "/");
+  p = strrchr (test_input.font_path, '/');
+  strcat (name, p ? p + 1 : test_input.font_path);
+  strcat (name, variable ? "/var" : "");
+  strcat (name, "/");
+  strcat (name, backend_name);
+
+  printf ("Testing %s\n", name);
+
+  std::vector<std::thread> threads;
+  for (unsigned i = 0; i < num_threads; i++)
+    threads.push_back (std::thread (shape, variable, backend, test_input));
+
+  for (unsigned i = 0; i < num_threads; i++)
+    threads[i].join ();
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
+{
+  if (argc > 2)
+  {
+    num_tests = (argc - 1) / 2;
+    tests = (test_input_t *) calloc (num_tests, sizeof (test_input_t));
+    for (unsigned i = 0; i < num_tests; i++)
+    {
+      tests[i].is_variable = true;
+      tests[i].text_path = argv[1 + i * 2];
+      tests[i].font_path = argv[2 + i * 2];
+    }
+  }
+
+  for (unsigned i = 0; i < num_tests; i++)
+  {
+    auto& test_input = tests[i];
+    for (int variable = 0; variable < int (test_input.is_variable) + 1; variable++)
+    {
+      bool is_var = (bool) variable;
+
+      test_backend (HARFBUZZ, "hb", is_var, test_input);
+#ifdef HAVE_FREETYPE
+      test_backend (FREETYPE, "ft", is_var, test_input);
+#endif
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (tests != default_tests)
+    free (tests);
+}
diff --git a/test/threads/meson.build b/test/threads/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..03e8202c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/threads/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+test('hb-shape-threads', executable('hb-shape-threads', 'hb-shape-threads.cc',
+  dependencies: [
+    freetype_dep,
+  ],
+  cpp_args: [],
+  include_directories: [incconfig, incsrc],
+  link_with: [libharfbuzz],
+  install: false,
+), workdir: meson.current_source_dir() / '..', timeout: 100)