diff --git a/.github/workflows/benchmarks.yml b/.github/workflows/benchmarks.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b40bc1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/benchmarks.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+name: Benchmarks
+
+on: [push, pull_request]
+
+env:
+  RUSTFLAGS: -C debuginfo=0  # Do not produce debug symbols to keep memory usage down
+  RUST_BACKTRACE: 1
+
+jobs:
+  benchmarks:
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        # we only use macos for fast testing
+        os: [macos-latest]
+        python-version: ['3.11']
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          submodules: recursive
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+
+      - name: Create virtual environment
+        env:
+          BIN: ${{ matrix.os == 'macos-latest' && 'Scripts' || 'bin' }}
+        run: |
+          python -m venv venv
+
+      - name: Set up Rust
+        run: rustup show
+
+      - name: Cache Rust
+        uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
+
+      - name: Install Plugin
+        run: |
+          brew install jpeg-xl
+          export DEP_JXL_LIB=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/jpeg-xl/0.10.3/lib
+          export DEP_BROTLI_LIB=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/brotli/1.1.0/lib
+          export DEP_HWY_LIB=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/highway/1.2.0/lib
+          source venv/bin/activate
+          pip install maturin
+          maturin develop --features dynamic
+    
+      - name: Run benchmarks scripts
+        run: |
+          source venv/bin/activate
+          python benchmarks/benchmarks_encode.py -i test/images/bench.png -o benchmarks-results-${{ matrix.python-version }}.json
+
+      - name: Upload pytest test results
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: benchmarks-results-${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          path: benchmarks-results-${{ matrix.python-version }}.json
+        # Use always() to always run this step to publish test results when there are test failures
+        if: ${{ always() }}
+
+
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index da5e2df..564ea50 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 /target
 Cargo.lock
 
+# Generated files
+*.json
+
 # Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
 __pycache__/
 .pytest_cache/
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmarks_encode.py b/benchmarks/benchmarks_encode.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2f1ab0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmarks_encode.py
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+import json
+import shlex
+import subprocess
+from argparse import ArgumentParser
+from io import BytesIO
+from time import time
+
+from PIL import Image
+
+import pillow_jxl
+
+
+def encode_plugin(filename, quality, effort):
+    bio = BytesIO()
+    t = time()
+    Image.open(filename).save(bio, format="jxl", quality=quality, effort=effort)
+    d = time() - t
+    return len(bio.getvalue()), d
+
+
+def encode_cli(filename, quality, effort):
+    cmd = f'cjxl -q {quality} -e {effort} "{filename}" -'
+    t = time()
+    p = subprocess.run(shlex.split(cmd), check=True, capture_output=True)
+    d = time() - t
+    return len(p.stdout), d
+
+
+def main(args):
+    filename = args.image
+    quality = args.quality
+
+    result = {
+        "image": filename,
+        "quality": quality,
+        "effort": [],
+        "plugin_size": [],
+        "plugin_time": [],
+        "refenc_size": [],
+        "refenc_time": [],
+    }
+    print("Quality:", quality)
+    for effort in range(1, 10):
+        size_plugin, time_plugin = encode_plugin(filename, quality, effort)
+        size_refenc, time_refenc = encode_cli(filename, quality, effort)
+        print(f"\nEffort {effort}")
+        print(f"  plugin    [size: {size_plugin}, duration: {time_plugin:.3f}]")
+        print(f"  reference [size: {size_refenc}, duration: {time_refenc:.3f}]")
+
+        result["effort"].append(effort)
+        result["plugin_size"].append(size_plugin)
+        result["plugin_time"].append(time_plugin)
+        result["refenc_size"].append(size_refenc)
+        result["refenc_time"].append(time_refenc)
+
+    if args.output_json:
+        with open(args.output_json, "w") as f:
+            json.dump(result, f, indent=4)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    parser = ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument("-i", "--image", help="Image file for encode benchmark", required=True)
+    parser.add_argument("-q", "--quality", type=int, default=98, help="Quality level")
+    parser.add_argument("-o", "--output-json", help="Output JSON file")
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    main(args)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/images/bench.png b/test/images/bench.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9607dd5
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/images/bench.png differ