diff --git a/tools/benchmark.php b/tools/benchmark.php
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..60aba638
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/benchmark.php
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#!/usr/bin/php
+<?php
+/*
+ *  benchmark.php - benchmarks thumbnailing methods
+ *
+ */
+ 
+	require dirname(__FILE__) . '/inc/cli.php';
+	require 'inc/image.php';
+	
+	// move back to this directory
+	chdir(dirname(__FILE__));
+	
+	if(count($argv) != 2)
+		die("Usage: {$argv[0]} [file]\n");
+	
+	$file = $argv[1];
+	$extension = strtolower(substr($file, strrpos($file, '.') + 1));
+	$out = tempnam($config['tmp'], 'thumb');
+	$count = 300;
+	
+	function benchmark($method) {
+		global $config, $file, $extension, $out, $count;
+		
+		$config['thumb_method'] = $method;
+		
+		printf("Method: %s\nThumbnailing %d times... ", $method, $count);
+		
+		$start = microtime(true);
+		for($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) {
+			$image = new Image($file, $extension);
+			$thumb = $image->resize(
+				$config['thumb_ext'] ? $config['thumb_ext'] : $extension,
+				$config['thumb_width'],
+				$config['thumb_height']
+			);
+			
+			$thumb->to($out);
+			$thumb->_destroy();
+			$image->destroy();
+		}
+		$end = microtime(true);
+		
+		printf("Took %.2f seconds (%.2f/second; %.2f ms)\n", $end - $start, $rate = ($count / ($end - $start)), 1000 / $rate);
+		
+		unlink($out);
+	}
+	
+	benchmark('gd');
+	benchmark('imagick');
+	benchmark('convert');
+