diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 75390c1f2..4f4592e2a 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -226,7 +226,9 @@ jobs:
       # test a meson based dist
       - run: meson dist -Cbuild && rm -rf build
       # test experimental APIs
-      - run: meson build -Dexperimental_api=true && ninja -Cbuild test && rm -rf build
+      - run: meson build -Dexperimental_api=true -Dbenchmark=true -Dexperimental_api=true -Doptimization=2 && ninja -Cbuild test # or meson test -Cbuild
+      # run benchmarks
+      - run: build/perf/perf && meson test -Cbuild --benchmark && rm -rf build # or ninja -Cbuild benchmark
       # mingw
       - run: .ci/build-win32.sh
       - store_artifacts:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/linux-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/linux-ci.yml
index 85068be92..a731233a7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/linux-ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/linux-ci.yml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: install meson and fonttools
       run: sudo pip3 install meson fonttools
     - name: run
-      run: meson build -Db_coverage=true -Dglib=enabled -Dcairo=enabled -Dicu=enabled -Dgraphite=enabled -Dfreetype=enabled
+      run: meson build -Db_coverage=true -Dglib=enabled -Dcairo=enabled -Dicu=enabled -Dgraphite=enabled -Dfreetype=enabled -Dbenchmark=true -Doptimization=2
     - name: ci
       run: meson test --print-errorlogs -Cbuild
 
@@ -30,6 +30,23 @@ jobs:
         GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GH_TOKEN }}
         REVISION: ${{ github.sha }}
 
+    # waiting for https://github.com/rhysd/github-action-benchmark/issues/36 to happen
+    # - name: benchmark
+    #   run: build/perf/perf --benchmark_format=json > perf/result.json
+    # - name: store benchmark result
+    #   uses: rhysd/github-action-benchmark@b2ee598
+    #   if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
+    #   with:
+    #     name: C++ Benchmark
+    #     tool: 'googlecpp'
+    #     output-file-path: perf/result.json
+    #     gh-pages-branch: gh-pages
+    #     github-token: ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+    #     auto-push: true
+    #     alert-threshold: '150%'
+    #     comment-on-alert: true
+    #     fail-on-alert: true
+
     - name: cov
       run: ninja -Cbuild coverage
     - uses: codecov/codecov-action@v1
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 662fe03cc..c6d260d80 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -345,6 +345,10 @@ if not get_option('tests').disabled()
   subdir('test')
 endif
 
+if get_option('benchmark')
+  subdir('perf')
+endif
+
 if not get_option('gtk_doc').disabled()
   subdir('docs')
 endif
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index b9102a80d..a61de2d3c 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ option('introspection', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', yield: true,
 option('gtk_doc',  type: 'feature', value: 'auto', yield: true,
   description: 'Generate documentation with gtk-doc')
 
+option('benchmark', type : 'boolean', value : false,
+  description: 'Enable benchmark tests')
 option('icu_builtin', type: 'boolean', value: false,
   description: 'Don\'t separate ICU support as harfbuzz-icu module')
 option('experimental_api', type: 'boolean', value: false,
diff --git a/perf/meson.build b/perf/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..da0ec1969
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perf/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+google_benchmark = subproject('google-benchmark')
+google_benchmark_dep = google_benchmark.get_variable('google_benchmark_dep')
+
+benchmark('perf', executable('perf', 'perf.cc',
+  dependencies : [google_benchmark_dep, freetype_dep],
+  include_directories: [incconfig, incsrc],
+  link_with: [libharfbuzz],
+  install: false,
+), workdir: meson.current_source_dir() / '..', timeout: 100)
diff --git a/perf/perf-draw.hh b/perf/perf-draw.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0173b719a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perf/perf-draw.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+#include "benchmark/benchmark.h"
+
+#include "hb.h"
+#include "hb-ot.h"
+#include "hb-ft.h"
+#include FT_OUTLINE_H
+
+#define HB_UNUSED __attribute__((unused))
+
+static void
+_hb_move_to (hb_position_t to_x HB_UNUSED, hb_position_t to_y HB_UNUSED, void *user_data HB_UNUSED) {}
+
+static void
+_hb_line_to (hb_position_t to_x HB_UNUSED, hb_position_t to_y HB_UNUSED, void *user_data HB_UNUSED) {}
+
+static void
+_hb_quadratic_to (hb_position_t control_x HB_UNUSED, hb_position_t control_y HB_UNUSED,
+		  hb_position_t to_x HB_UNUSED, hb_position_t to_y HB_UNUSED,
+		  void *user_data HB_UNUSED) {}
+
+static void
+_hb_cubic_to (hb_position_t control1_x HB_UNUSED, hb_position_t control1_y HB_UNUSED,
+	      hb_position_t control2_x HB_UNUSED, hb_position_t control2_y HB_UNUSED,
+	      hb_position_t to_x HB_UNUSED, hb_position_t to_y HB_UNUSED,
+	      void *user_data HB_UNUSED) {}
+
+static void
+_hb_close_path (void *user_data HB_UNUSED) {}
+
+static void
+_ft_move_to (const FT_Vector* to HB_UNUSED, void* user HB_UNUSED) {}
+
+static void
+_ft_line_to (const FT_Vector* to HB_UNUSED, void* user HB_UNUSED) {}
+
+static void
+_ft_conic_to (const FT_Vector* control HB_UNUSED, const FT_Vector* to HB_UNUSED,
+              void* user HB_UNUSED) {}
+
+static void
+_ft_cubic_to (const FT_Vector* control1 HB_UNUSED, const FT_Vector* control2 HB_UNUSED,
+	      const FT_Vector* to HB_UNUSED, void* user HB_UNUSED) {}
+
+
+static void draw (benchmark::State &state, const char *font_path, bool is_var, bool is_ft)
+{
+  hb_font_t *font;
+  unsigned num_glyphs;
+  {
+    hb_blob_t *blob = hb_blob_create_from_file (font_path);
+    assert (hb_blob_get_length (blob));
+    hb_face_t *face = hb_face_create (blob, 0);
+    hb_blob_destroy (blob);
+    num_glyphs = hb_face_get_glyph_count (face);
+    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);
+  }
+
+  if (is_ft)
+  {
+    FT_Face ft_face = hb_ft_font_get_face (font);
+    hb_ft_font_set_load_flags (font, FT_LOAD_NO_HINTING | FT_LOAD_NO_SCALE);
+
+    FT_Outline_Funcs draw_funcs;
+    draw_funcs.move_to = (FT_Outline_MoveToFunc) _ft_move_to;
+    draw_funcs.line_to = (FT_Outline_LineToFunc) _ft_line_to;
+    draw_funcs.conic_to = (FT_Outline_ConicToFunc) _ft_conic_to;
+    draw_funcs.cubic_to = (FT_Outline_CubicToFunc) _ft_cubic_to;
+    draw_funcs.shift = 0;
+    draw_funcs.delta = 0;
+
+    for (auto _ : state)
+      for (unsigned gid = 0; gid < num_glyphs; ++gid)
+      {
+	FT_Load_Glyph (ft_face, gid, FT_LOAD_NO_HINTING | FT_LOAD_NO_SCALE);
+	FT_Outline_Decompose (&ft_face->glyph->outline, &draw_funcs, nullptr);
+      }
+  }
+  else
+  {
+    hb_draw_funcs_t *draw_funcs = hb_draw_funcs_create ();
+    hb_draw_funcs_set_move_to_func (draw_funcs, _hb_move_to);
+    hb_draw_funcs_set_line_to_func (draw_funcs, _hb_line_to);
+    hb_draw_funcs_set_quadratic_to_func (draw_funcs, _hb_quadratic_to);
+    hb_draw_funcs_set_cubic_to_func (draw_funcs, _hb_cubic_to);
+    hb_draw_funcs_set_close_path_func (draw_funcs, _hb_close_path);
+
+    for (auto _ : state)
+      for (unsigned gid = 0; gid < num_glyphs; ++gid)
+	hb_font_draw_glyph (font, gid, draw_funcs, nullptr);
+
+    hb_draw_funcs_destroy (draw_funcs);
+  }
+
+  hb_font_destroy (font);
+}
+
+#define FONT_BASE_PATH "test/subset/data/fonts/"
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, cff - ot - SourceSansPro, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSansPro-Regular.otf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, cff - ft - SourceSansPro, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSansPro-Regular.otf", false, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, cff2 - ot - AdobeVFPrototype, FONT_BASE_PATH "AdobeVFPrototype.otf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, cff2 - ft - AdobeVFPrototype, FONT_BASE_PATH "AdobeVFPrototype.otf", false, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, cff2/vf - ot - AdobeVFPrototype, FONT_BASE_PATH "AdobeVFPrototype.otf", true, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, cff2/vf - ft - AdobeVFPrototype, FONT_BASE_PATH "AdobeVFPrototype.otf", true, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf - ot - SourceSerifVariable, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf - ft - SourceSerifVariable, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf", false, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf/vf - ot - SourceSerifVariable, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf", true, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf/vf - ft - SourceSerifVariable, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf", true, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf - ot - Comfortaa, FONT_BASE_PATH "Comfortaa-Regular-new.ttf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf - ft - Comfortaa, FONT_BASE_PATH "Comfortaa-Regular-new.ttf", false, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf/vf - ot - Comfortaa, FONT_BASE_PATH "Comfortaa-Regular-new.ttf", true, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf/vf - ft - Comfortaa, FONT_BASE_PATH "Comfortaa-Regular-new.ttf", true, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf - ot - Roboto, FONT_BASE_PATH "Roboto-Regular.ttf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (draw, glyf - ft - Roboto, FONT_BASE_PATH "Roboto-Regular.ttf", false, true);
diff --git a/perf/perf-extents.hh b/perf/perf-extents.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb4e17d8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perf/perf-extents.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#include "benchmark/benchmark.h"
+
+#include "hb.h"
+#include "hb-ft.h"
+#include "hb-ot.h"
+
+static void extents (benchmark::State &state, const char *font_path, bool is_var, bool is_ft)
+{
+  hb_font_t *font;
+  unsigned num_glyphs;
+  {
+    hb_blob_t *blob = hb_blob_create_from_file (font_path);
+    assert (hb_blob_get_length (blob));
+    hb_face_t *face = hb_face_create (blob, 0);
+    hb_blob_destroy (blob);
+    num_glyphs = hb_face_get_glyph_count (face);
+    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);
+  }
+
+  if (is_ft)
+  {
+    hb_ft_font_set_funcs (font);
+    hb_ft_font_set_load_flags (font, FT_LOAD_NO_HINTING | FT_LOAD_NO_SCALE);
+  }
+
+  hb_glyph_extents_t extents;
+  for (auto _ : state)
+    for (unsigned gid = 0; gid < num_glyphs; ++gid)
+      hb_font_get_glyph_extents (font, gid, &extents);
+
+  hb_font_destroy (font);
+}
+
+#define FONT_BASE_PATH "test/subset/data/fonts/"
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, cff - ot - SourceSansPro, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSansPro-Regular.otf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, cff - ft - SourceSansPro, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSansPro-Regular.otf", false, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, cff2 - ot - AdobeVFPrototype, FONT_BASE_PATH "AdobeVFPrototype.otf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, cff2 - ft - AdobeVFPrototype, FONT_BASE_PATH "AdobeVFPrototype.otf", false, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, cff2/vf - ot - AdobeVFPrototype, FONT_BASE_PATH "AdobeVFPrototype.otf", true, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, cff2/vf - ft - AdobeVFPrototype, FONT_BASE_PATH "AdobeVFPrototype.otf", true, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf - ot - SourceSerifVariable, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf - ft - SourceSerifVariable, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf", false, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf/vf - ot - SourceSerifVariable, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf", true, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf/vf - ft - SourceSerifVariable, FONT_BASE_PATH "SourceSerifVariable-Roman.ttf", true, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf - ot - Comfortaa, FONT_BASE_PATH "Comfortaa-Regular-new.ttf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf - ft - Comfortaa, FONT_BASE_PATH "Comfortaa-Regular-new.ttf", false, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf/vf - ot - Comfortaa, FONT_BASE_PATH "Comfortaa-Regular-new.ttf", true, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf/vf - ft - Comfortaa, FONT_BASE_PATH "Comfortaa-Regular-new.ttf", true, true);
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf - ot - Roboto, FONT_BASE_PATH "Roboto-Regular.ttf", false, false);
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (extents, glyf - ft - Roboto, FONT_BASE_PATH "Roboto-Regular.ttf", false, true);
diff --git a/perf/perf-shaping.hh b/perf/perf-shaping.hh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..73efd0a7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perf/perf-shaping.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#include "benchmark/benchmark.h"
+
+#include "hb.h"
+
+static void shape (benchmark::State &state, const char *text_path,
+		   hb_direction_t direction, hb_script_t script,
+		   const char *font_path)
+{
+  hb_font_t *font;
+  {
+    hb_blob_t *blob = hb_blob_create_from_file (font_path);
+    assert (hb_blob_get_length (blob));
+    hb_face_t *face = hb_face_create (blob, 0);
+    hb_blob_destroy (blob);
+    font = hb_font_create (face);
+    hb_face_destroy (face);
+  }
+
+  hb_blob_t *text_blob = hb_blob_create_from_file (text_path);
+  unsigned text_length;
+  const char *text = hb_blob_get_data (text_blob, &text_length);
+  assert (text_length);
+
+  hb_buffer_t *buf = hb_buffer_create ();
+  for (auto _ : state)
+  {
+    hb_buffer_add_utf8 (buf, text, text_length, 0, -1);
+    hb_buffer_set_direction (buf, direction);
+    hb_buffer_set_script (buf, script);
+    hb_shape (font, buf, nullptr, 0);
+    hb_buffer_clear_contents (buf);
+  }
+  hb_buffer_destroy (buf);
+
+  hb_blob_destroy (text_blob);
+  hb_font_destroy (font);
+}
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (shape, fa-thelittleprince.txt - Amiri,
+		   "perf/texts/fa-thelittleprince.txt",
+		   HB_DIRECTION_RTL, HB_SCRIPT_ARABIC,
+		   "perf/fonts/Amiri-Regular.ttf");
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (shape, fa-thelittleprince.txt - NotoNastaliqUrdu,
+		   "perf/texts/fa-thelittleprince.txt",
+		   HB_DIRECTION_RTL, HB_SCRIPT_ARABIC,
+		   "perf/fonts/NotoNastaliqUrdu-Regular.ttf");
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (shape, fa-monologue.txt - Amiri,
+		   "perf/texts/fa-monologue.txt",
+		   HB_DIRECTION_RTL, HB_SCRIPT_ARABIC,
+		   "perf/fonts/Amiri-Regular.ttf");
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (shape, fa-monologue.txt - NotoNastaliqUrdu,
+		   "perf/texts/fa-monologue.txt",
+		   HB_DIRECTION_RTL, HB_SCRIPT_ARABIC,
+		   "perf/fonts/NotoNastaliqUrdu-Regular.ttf");
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (shape, en-thelittleprince.txt - Roboto,
+		   "perf/texts/en-thelittleprince.txt",
+		   HB_DIRECTION_LTR, HB_SCRIPT_LATIN,
+		   "perf/fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf");
+
+BENCHMARK_CAPTURE (shape, en-words.txt - Roboto,
+		   "perf/texts/en-words.txt",
+		   HB_DIRECTION_LTR, HB_SCRIPT_LATIN,
+		   "perf/fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf");
diff --git a/perf/perf.cc b/perf/perf.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..893fedc0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perf/perf.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#include "benchmark/benchmark.h"
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include "config.h"
+#endif
+
+#include "perf-shaping.hh"
+#ifdef HAVE_FREETYPE
+#include "perf-extents.hh"
+#ifdef HB_EXPERIMENTAL_API
+#include "perf-draw.hh"
+#endif
+#endif
+
+BENCHMARK_MAIN ();
diff --git a/subprojects/.gitignore b/subprojects/.gitignore
index 04b04874b..5e2056b2d 100644
--- a/subprojects/.gitignore
+++ b/subprojects/.gitignore
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@
 /proxy-libintl
 /zlib
 /packagecache
+/google-benchmark
diff --git a/subprojects/google-benchmark.wrap b/subprojects/google-benchmark.wrap
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..180c6ee77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/google-benchmark.wrap
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[wrap-file]
+directory = benchmark-1.4.1
+source_url = https://github.com/google/benchmark/archive/v1.4.1.zip
+source_filename = benchmark-1.4.1.zip
+source_hash = 61ae07eb5d4a0b02753419eb17a82b7d322786bb36ab62bd3df331a4d47c00a7
+patch_url = https://wrapdb.mesonbuild.com/v1/projects/google-benchmark/1.4.1/1/get_zip
+patch_filename = google-benchmark-1.4.1-1-wrap.zip
+patch_hash = 4cc5fe02ebd4fc82e110919b7977d7463eb2a99e4ecb9feca920eab6fd911d67