diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index 9dca5da..bcec80e 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ check_PROGRAMS += $(TESTS:.test=)
 
 # some programs that do internal checking
 check_PROGRAMS += chk_version \
-	cr_obj_multi
+	cr_obj_multi \
+	perf_to_string
 
 TESTS += chk_version
 
diff --git a/tests/perf_to_string.c b/tests/perf_to_string.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e05a43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/perf_to_string.c
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/* libfastjson testbench tool
+ * This program can be used to test the performance of the _to_string()
+ * subsystem. It is meant to be used together with a profiler.
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2016 Adiscon GmbH
+ * Rainer Gerhards <rgerhards@adiscon.com>
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the MIT license. See COPYING for details.
+ *
+ */
+#include "config.h"
+
+#include "../json.h"
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#define NUM_ITERATIONS 100000
+
+int
+main(int __attribute__((unused)) argc, char __attribute__((unused)) **argv)
+{
+	int i;
+	struct fjson_object *json;
+
+	json = fjson_object_new_object();
+	fjson_object_object_add(json, "string1", fjson_object_new_string("This is a test"));
+	fjson_object_object_add(json, "string2", fjson_object_new_string("This is a "
+		"loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"
+		"ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"
+		"ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong"
+		"test"));
+	fjson_object_object_add(json, "string3", fjson_object_new_string("This is\n a test öäü"));
+	fjson_object_object_add(json, "int1", fjson_object_new_int(4711));
+
+
+	for(i = 0 ; i < NUM_ITERATIONS ; ++i) {
+		const char *dummy = fjson_object_to_json_string(json);
+		if(dummy == NULL) {
+			fprintf(stderr, "dummy has received no output!");
+			exit(1);
+		}
+		if(i == 0)
+			printf("%s\n", dummy);
+	}
+
+	fjson_object_put(json);
+	return 0;
+}