diff --git a/benchmark/common.js b/benchmark/common.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2ceb7131918
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark/common.js
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+var assert = require('assert');
+var path = require('path');
+
+exports.PORT = process.env.PORT || 12346;
+
+exports.createBenchmark = function(fn, options) {
+  return new Benchmark(fn, options);
+};
+
+function Benchmark(fn, options) {
+  this.fn = fn;
+  this.options = options;
+  this.config = parseOpts(options);
+  this._name = path.basename(require.main.filename, '.js');
+  this._start = [0,0];
+  this._started = false;
+  var self = this;
+  process.nextTick(function() {
+    self._run();
+  });
+}
+
+Benchmark.prototype._run = function() {
+  if (this.config)
+    return this.fn(this.config);
+
+  // one more more options weren't set.
+  // run with all combinations
+  var main = require.main.filename;
+  var settings = [];
+  var queueLen = 1;
+  var options = this.options;
+
+  var queue = Object.keys(options).reduce(function(set, key) {
+    var vals = options[key];
+    assert(Array.isArray(vals));
+
+    // match each item in the set with each item in the list
+    var newSet = new Array(set.length * vals.length);
+    var j = 0;
+    set.forEach(function(s) {
+      vals.forEach(function(val) {
+        newSet[j++] = s.concat('--' + key + '=' + val);
+      });
+    });
+    return newSet;
+  }, [[main]]);
+
+  var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
+  var node = process.execPath;
+  var i = 0;
+  function run() {
+    var argv = queue[i++];
+    if (!argv)
+      return;
+    var child = spawn(node, argv, { stdio: 'inherit' });
+    child.on('close', function(code, signal) {
+      if (code)
+        console.error('child process exited with code ' + code);
+      else
+        run();
+    });
+  }
+  run();
+};
+
+function parseOpts(options) {
+  // verify that there's an --option provided for each of the options
+  // if they're not *all* specified, then we return null.
+  var keys = Object.keys(options);
+  var num = keys.length;
+  var conf = {};
+  for (var i = 2; i < process.argv.length; i++) {
+    var m = process.argv[i].match(/^--(.+)=(.+)$/);
+    if (!m || !m[1] || !m[2] || !options[m[1]])
+      return null;
+    else {
+      conf[m[1]] = isFinite(m[2]) ? +m[2] : m[2]
+      num--;
+    }
+  }
+  return num === 0 ? conf : null;
+};
+
+Benchmark.prototype.start = function() {
+  if (this._started)
+    throw new Error('Called start more than once in a single benchmark');
+  this._started = true;
+  this._start = process.hrtime();
+};
+
+Benchmark.prototype.end = function(operations) {
+  var elapsed = process.hrtime(this._start);
+  if (!this._started)
+    throw new Error('called end without start');
+  if (typeof operations !== 'number')
+    throw new Error('called end() without specifying operation count');
+  var time = elapsed[0] + elapsed[1]/1e9;
+  var rate = operations/time;
+  var heading = this.getHeading();
+  console.log('%s: %s', heading, rate.toPrecision(5));
+  process.exit(0);
+};
+
+Benchmark.prototype.getHeading = function() {
+  var conf = this.config;
+  return this._name + '_' + Object.keys(conf).map(function(key) {
+    return key + '_' + conf[key];
+  }).join('_');
+}