diff --git a/tests/benchmarks/.gitignore b/tests/benchmarks/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..26828f50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/benchmarks/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+/__pycache__/
+/helloworld
+/write_pages
diff --git a/tests/benchmarks/Makefile b/tests/benchmarks/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..740c91dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/benchmarks/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+BENCHMARKS = \
+	 helloworld \
+	 write_pages
+
+.PHONY: all
+all: $(BENCHMARKS)
+
+.PHONY: clean
+clean:
+	$(RM) $(BENCHMARKS)
diff --git a/tests/benchmarks/basic.manifest.template b/tests/benchmarks/basic.manifest.template
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..38153bfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/benchmarks/basic.manifest.template
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#sgx.enable_stats = 1
+
+loader.preload = file:@GRAPHENEDIR@/Runtime/libsysdb.so
+loader.env.LD_LIBRARY_PATH = /lib
+loader.debug_type = none
+loader.syscall_symbol = syscalldb
+loader.insecure__use_cmdline_argv = 1
+
+fs.mount.graphene_lib.type = chroot
+fs.mount.graphene_lib.path = /lib
+fs.mount.graphene_lib.uri = file:@GRAPHENEDIR@/Runtime
+
+sgx.trusted_files.ld = file:@GRAPHENEDIR@/Runtime/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
+sgx.trusted_files.libc = file:@GRAPHENEDIR@/Runtime/libc.so.6
+sgx.trusted_files.libdl = file:@GRAPHENEDIR@/Runtime/libdl.so.2
+sgx.trusted_files.libm = file:@GRAPHENEDIR@/Runtime/libm.so.6
+sgx.trusted_files.libpthread = file:@GRAPHENEDIR@/Runtime/libpthread.so.0
+
+sgx.thread_num = 3
+
+#sgx.static_address = 1
diff --git a/tests/benchmarks/basic.py b/tests/benchmarks/basic.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..62855b58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/benchmarks/basic.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-or-later
+# Copyright (c) 2020 Intel Corporation
+#                    Wojtek Porczyk <woju@invisiblethingslab.com>
+#
+
+from . import Exec
+
+# pylint: disable=invalid-name
+
+class HelloWorld:
+    # pylint: disable=no-self-use
+
+    helloworld = Exec('helloworld', manifest_template='basic.manifest.template')
+    setup = helloworld.setup
+
+    def time_graphene_nosgx(self):
+        self.helloworld.run_in_graphene(sgx=False)
+
+    def time_graphene_sgx(self):
+        self.helloworld.run_in_graphene(sgx=True)
+
+class WritePages:
+    # pylint: disable=no-self-use
+
+    write_pages = Exec('write_pages', manifest_template='basic.manifest.template')
+    params = [10000, 100000, 1000000, 10000000]
+    param_names = ['pagecount']
+    setup = write_pages.setup
+
+    def time_graphene_nosgx(self, pagecount):
+        self.write_pages.run_in_graphene(str(pagecount), sgx=False)
+
+    def time_graphene_sgx(self, pagecount):
+        self.write_pages.run_in_graphene(str(pagecount), sgx=True)
diff --git a/tests/benchmarks/helloworld.c b/tests/benchmarks/helloworld.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..33c14ce1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/benchmarks/helloworld.c
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+int main() {
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/tests/benchmarks/write_pages.c b/tests/benchmarks/write_pages.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fb00b4ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/benchmarks/write_pages.c
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-or-later */
+/* Copyright (c) 2020 Intel Corporation
+ *                    Wojtek Porczyk <woju@invisiblethingslab.com>
+ */
+
+/*
+ * write a number of pages to /dev/null
+ */
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <limits.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/mman.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+void usage(char* argv0) {
+    fprintf(stderr, "usage: %s PAGECOUNT\n", argv0);
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
+    void* buf;
+    size_t pagesize;
+    ssize_t r;
+    int fd, i, ret, pagecount;
+
+    if (argc != 2) {
+        usage(argv[0]);
+        return 2;
+    }
+
+    errno = 0;
+    pagecount = strtol(argv[1], NULL, 0);
+    if (errno != 0) {
+        usage(argv[0]);
+        return 2;
+    }
+
+    ret = 1;
+
+    pagesize = sysconf(_SC_PAGESIZE);
+
+    buf = mmap(NULL, pagesize, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0);
+    if (buf == MAP_FAILED) {
+        perror("mmap");
+        goto err_return;
+    }
+
+    memset(buf, 0xa5, pagesize);
+
+    fd = open("/dev/null", O_WRONLY);
+    if (fd < 0) {
+        perror("open");
+        goto err_unmap;
+    }
+
+    for (i = 0; i < pagecount; i++) {
+        r = write(fd, buf, pagesize);
+        if (r < 0) {
+            perror("write");
+            goto err_close;
+        }
+    }
+
+    ret = 0;
+
+err_close:
+    close(fd);
+err_unmap:
+    munmap(buf, pagesize);
+err_return:
+    return ret;
+}