diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3307a58..1619c8e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 
+CFLAGS = -Wall -fPIC
+
 all: libsfuid.so example
 
 libsfuid.so: lib/sfuid.o
@@ -14,9 +16,16 @@ lib/sfuid.o: lib/sfuid.h
 
 %.o: %.c
 	@echo Compiling $<...
-	@gcc -Wall -fPIC -c $< -o $@
+	@gcc ${CFLAGS} -c $< -o $@
+
+benchmark: CFLAGS += -DBENCHMARK
+benchmark: clean example
+	@mv example benchmark
+	@rm -f lib/*.o
 
 clean:
-	@rm *.o
-	@rm lib/*.o
-	@rm *.so example
+	@rm -f *.o
+	@rm -f lib/*.o
+	@rm -f *.so
+	@rm -f example
+	@rm -f benchmark
diff --git a/benchmark.sh b/benchmark.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..549722a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+make benchmark
+if test $? != 0; then
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=.
+
+iterations=$1
+
+if test "$iterations" = ""; then
+	iterations=200
+fi
+
+resultfile=/dev/shm/$$.result
+timefile=/dev/shm/$$.time
+
+encoding=()
+decoding=()
+
+minMax() {
+	tmp=$(sort -g)
+	echo -n "min:   "
+	echo "$tmp" | head -n 1
+	echo -n "max:   "
+	echo "$tmp" | tail -n 1
+}
+
+standardDeviation() {
+	awk '{ sum += $1; sumsq += $1 * $1 } END { print "mu:    " sum/NR "\nsigma: " sqrt(sumsq/NR - (sum/NR)**2)}'
+}
+
+for i in $(seq 0 $iterations); do
+	echo -n "."
+	parameter=$RANDOM
+	./benchmark $2 $parameter 1> $resultfile 2> $timefile 
+	result=$(cat $resultfile)
+	ns=$(cat $timefile | awk -F: '{ print $2 }' | awk '{ print $1 }')
+
+	encoding+=($ns)
+
+	./benchmark $2 -d $result 1> $resultfile 2> $timefile
+	result=$(cat $resultfile)
+	ns=$(cat $timefile | awk -F: '{ print $2 }' | awk '{ print $1 }')
+
+	decoding+=($ns)
+
+	if test "$result" != "$parameter"; then
+		echo
+		echo "Error on input $parameter. Result: $result"
+	fi
+done
+
+echo
+echo
+echo "Encoding: "
+printf "%s\n" "${encoding[@]}" | minMax
+printf "%s\n" "${encoding[@]}" | standardDeviation
+echo
+echo "Decoding: "
+printf "%s\n" "${decoding[@]}" | minMax
+printf "%s\n" "${decoding[@]}" | standardDeviation
+
+rm benchmark
diff --git a/lib/sfuid.c b/lib/sfuid.c
index 11c0dd7..ded0758 100644
--- a/lib/sfuid.c
+++ b/lib/sfuid.c
@@ -331,6 +331,11 @@ int sfuid_encode(uint64_t value, char* string) {
 	if (!settingsValid)
 		return SFUID_ERROR_SETTINGS_INVALID;
 
+	#ifdef BENCHMARK
+		struct timespec before, after;
+		clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &before);
+	#endif
+
 	value += settings.offset;
 
 	if (value > properties.max) 
@@ -341,10 +346,26 @@ int sfuid_encode(uint64_t value, char* string) {
 	if (tmp != SFUID_ERROR_NONE)
 		return tmp;
 
+	#ifdef BENCHMARK
+		clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &after);
+		unsigned long long diff = (int64_t)(after.tv_sec - before.tv_sec) * (int64_t) 1000000000UL + (int64_t)(after.tv_nsec - before.tv_nsec);
+		fprintf(stderr, "Time for conversion: %llu ns\n", diff);
+	#endif
+
+
 	return SFUID_ERROR_NONE;
 }
 
 int sfuid_decode(const char* string, uint64_t* value) {
+	if (!settingsValid)
+		return SFUID_ERROR_SETTINGS_INVALID;
+
+	#ifdef BENCHMARK
+		struct timespec before, after;
+		clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &before);
+	#endif
+
+
 	int tmp = convertFromString(string, value);
 	if (tmp != SFUID_ERROR_NONE)
 		return tmp;
@@ -355,6 +376,12 @@ int sfuid_decode(const char* string, uint64_t* value) {
 
 	*value -= settings.offset;
 
+	#ifdef BENCHMARK
+		clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &after);
+		unsigned long long diff = (int64_t)(after.tv_sec - before.tv_sec) * (int64_t) 1000000000UL + (int64_t)(after.tv_nsec - before.tv_nsec);
+		fprintf(stderr, "Time for conversion: %llu ns\n", diff);
+	#endif
+
 	return SFUID_ERROR_NONE;
 }