diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 5157cae..9091349 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -6,3 +6,10 @@ edition = "2021"
 # See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
 
 [dependencies]
+
+[dev-dependencies]
+criterion = "0.4.0"
+
+[[bench]]
+name = "basic"
+harness = false
diff --git a/benches/basic.rs b/benches/basic.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29a5007
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benches/basic.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+use criterion::{criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion};
+use irctokens::tokenise;
+
+fn basic() {
+    tokenise(b"@tag1=tag1value;tag2=;tag3 :source COMMAND arg1 arg2 :arg3 with space").unwrap();
+}
+
+fn criterion_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    c.bench_function("basic", |b| b.iter(basic));
+}
+
+criterion_group!(benches, criterion_benchmark);
+criterion_main!(benches);