diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0b97989..21c1649 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ dist/
 test.py
 .coverage
 htmlcov/
+benchmarks/cases.json
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 74335f4..730ad75 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ install:
 script:
 - make lint
 - make test
+- make benchmark
 - ./tests/check_tag.py
 
 after_success:
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0aef217..4626200 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ install:
 	pip install -U setuptools pip
 	pip install -U .
 	pip install -r tests/requirements.txt
+	pip install -r benchmarks/requirements.txt
 
 .PHONY: isort
 isort:
@@ -26,6 +27,10 @@ testcov:
 .PHONY: all
 all: testcov lint
 
+.PHONY: benchmark
+benchmark:
+	python benchmarks/run.py
+
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
 	rm -rf `find . -name __pycache__`
diff --git a/benchmarks/requirements.txt b/benchmarks/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88a47af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+python-dateutil
+trafaret
diff --git a/benchmarks/run.py b/benchmarks/run.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a5f563
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/run.py
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+import json
+import random
+import string
+from datetime import datetime
+from functools import partial
+from pathlib import Path
+from statistics import mean, stdev
+
+from test_trafaret import TestTrafaret
+from test_pydantic import TestPydantic
+
+PUNCTUATION = ' \t\n!"#$%&\'()*+,-./'
+LETTERS = string.ascii_letters
+UNICODE = '\xa0\xad¡¢£¤¥¦§¨©ª«¬ ®¯°±²³´µ¶·¸¹º»¼½¾¿ÀÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÐÑÒÓÔÕÖ×ØÙÚÛÜÝÞßàáâãäåæçèéêëìíîïðñòóôõö÷øùúûüýþÿ'
+ALL = PUNCTUATION * 5 + LETTERS * 20 + UNICODE
+random = random.SystemRandom()
+
+
+class GenerateData:
+    def __init__(self):
+        pass
+
+
+def rand_string(min_length, max_length, corpus=ALL):
+    return ''.join(random.choices(corpus, k=random.randrange(min_length, max_length)))
+
+
+MISSING = object()
+
+
+def null_missing_v(f, null_chance=0.2, missing_chance=None):
+    r = random.random()
+    if random.random() < null_chance:
+        return None
+    missing_chance = null_chance if missing_chance is None else missing_chance
+    if r < (null_chance + missing_chance):
+        return MISSING
+    return f()
+
+
+def null_missing_string(*args, **kwargs):
+    f = partial(rand_string, *args)
+    return null_missing_v(f, **kwargs)
+
+
+def rand_email():
+    if random.random() < 0.2:
+        c1, c2 = UNICODE, LETTERS
+    else:
+        c1, c2 = LETTERS, LETTERS
+    return f'{rand_string(10, 50, corpus=c1)}@{rand_string(10, 50, corpus=c2)}.{rand_string(2, 5, corpus=c2)}'
+
+
+def null_missing_email():
+    return null_missing_v(rand_email)
+
+
+def rand_date():
+    r = random.randrange
+    return f'{r(1900, 2020)}-{r(0, 12)}-{r(0, 32)}T{r(0, 24)}:{r(0, 60)}:{r(0, 60)}'
+
+
+def remove_missing(d):
+    if isinstance(d, dict):
+        return {k: remove_missing(v) for k, v in d.items() if v is not MISSING}
+    elif isinstance(d, list):
+        return [remove_missing(d_) for d_ in d]
+    else:
+        return d
+
+
+def generate_case():
+    return remove_missing(dict(
+        id=random.randrange(1, 2000),
+        client_name=null_missing_string(10, 280, null_chance=0.05, missing_chance=0.05),
+        sort_index=random.random() * 200,
+        client_email=null_missing_email(),  # email checks differ with different frameworks
+        client_phone=null_missing_string(5, 15),
+        location=dict(
+            latitude=random.random() * 180 - 90,
+            longitude=random.random() * 180,
+        ),
+        contractor=str(random.randrange(5, 2000)),  # TODO negative checks
+        upstream_http_referrer=null_missing_string(10, 1050),
+        grecaptcha_response=null_missing_string(10, 1050, null_chance=0.05, missing_chance=0.05),
+        last_updated=rand_date(),
+        skills=[dict(
+            subject=null_missing_string(5, 20, null_chance=0.01, missing_chance=0),
+            subject_id=i,
+            category=rand_string(5, 20),
+            qual_level=rand_string(5, 20),
+            qual_level_id=random.randrange(2000),
+            qual_level_ranking=random.random() * 20
+        ) for i in range(random.randrange(1, 5))]
+    ))
+
+THIS_DIR = Path(__file__).parent.resolve()
+
+
+def main():
+    json_path = THIS_DIR / 'cases.json'
+    if not json_path.exists():
+        print('generating test cases...')
+        cases = [generate_case() for _ in range(2000)]
+        with json_path.open('w') as f:
+            json.dump(cases, f, indent=2, sort_keys=True)
+    else:
+        with json_path.open() as f:
+            cases = json.load(f)
+    tests = [TestTrafaret, TestPydantic]
+    for test_class in tests:
+        times = []
+        p = test_class.package
+        for i in range(5):
+            count, pass_count = 0, 0
+            start = datetime.now()
+            test = test_class(False)
+            for i in range(3):
+                for case in cases:
+                    passed, result = test.validate(case)
+                    count += 1
+                    pass_count += passed
+            time = (datetime.now() - start).total_seconds()
+            success = pass_count / count * 100
+            print(f'{p:>20}: time={time:0.2f}s, success={success:0.2f}%')
+            times.append(time)
+        print(f'{p:>20}: best={min(times):0.2f}s, avg={mean(times):0.2f}s, stdev={stdev(times):0.2f}s')
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
diff --git a/benchmarks/test_pydantic.py b/benchmarks/test_pydantic.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76bc8c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/test_pydantic.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+from datetime import datetime
+from typing import List
+
+from pydantic import BaseModel, constr, EmailStr
+
+
+class TestPydantic:
+    package = 'pydantic'
+
+    def __init__(self, allow_extra):
+
+        class Model(BaseModel):
+            id: int = ...
+            client_name: constr(max_length=255) = ...
+            sort_index: float = ...
+            client_email: EmailStr = None
+            client_phone: constr(max_length=255) = None
+
+            class Location(BaseModel):
+                latitude: float = None
+                longitude: float = None
+            location: Location = None
+
+            contractor: int = None
+            upstream_http_referrer: constr(max_length=1023) = None
+            grecaptcha_response: constr(min_length=20, max_length=1000) = ...
+            last_updated: datetime = None
+
+            class Skill(BaseModel):
+                subject: str = ...
+                subject_id: int = ...
+                category: str = ...
+                qual_level: str = ...
+                qual_level_id: int = ...
+                qual_level_ranking: float = 0
+            skills: List[Skill] = []
+
+            class Config:
+                ignore_extra = allow_extra
+
+        self.model = Model
+
+    def validate(self, data):
+        try:
+            return True, self.model(**data)
+        except ValueError:
+            return False, None
diff --git a/benchmarks/test_trafaret.py b/benchmarks/test_trafaret.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31eac10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/test_trafaret.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+from dateutil.parser import parse
+import trafaret as t
+
+
+class TestTrafaret:
+    package = 'trafaret'
+
+    def __init__(self, allow_extra):
+        self.schema = t.Dict({
+            'id': t.Int(),
+            'client_name': t.String(max_length=255),
+            'sort_index': t.Float,
+            t.Key('client_email', optional=True): t.Or(t.Null | t.Email()),
+            t.Key('client_phone', optional=True): t.Or(t.Null | t.String(max_length=255)),
+
+            t.Key('location', optional=True): t.Or(t.Null | t.Dict({
+                'latitude': t.Or(t.Float | t.Null),
+                'longitude': t.Or(t.Float | t.Null),
+            })),
+
+            t.Key('contractor', optional=True): t.Or(t.Null | t.Int(gt=0)),
+            t.Key('upstream_http_referrer', optional=True): t.Or(t.Null | t.String(max_length=1023)),
+            t.Key('grecaptcha_response'): t.String(min_length=20, max_length=1000),
+
+            t.Key('last_updated', optional=True): t.Or(t.Null | t.String >> parse),
+
+            t.Key('skills', default=[]): t.List(t.Dict({
+                'subject': t.String,
+                'subject_id': t.Int,
+                'category': t.String,
+                'qual_level': t.String,
+                'qual_level_id': t.Int,
+                t.Key('qual_level_ranking', default=0): t.Float,
+            })),
+        })
+        if allow_extra:
+            self.schema.allow_extra('*')
+
+    def validate(self, data):
+        try:
+            return True, self.schema.check(data)
+        except t.DataError:
+            return False, None
+        except ValueError:
+            return False, None