diff --git a/kvdb-rocksdb/Cargo.toml b/kvdb-rocksdb/Cargo.toml
index c01b51c6a..2049da4ba 100644
--- a/kvdb-rocksdb/Cargo.toml
+++ b/kvdb-rocksdb/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ description = "kvdb implementation backed by rocksDB"
 license = "GPL-3.0"
 edition = "2018"
 
+[[bench]]
+name = "bench_read_perf"
+harness = false
+
 [dependencies]
 elastic-array = "0.10.2"
 fs-swap = "0.2.4"
@@ -20,5 +24,8 @@ rocksdb = { version = "0.13", features = ["snappy"], default-features = false }
 owning_ref = "0.4.0"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
-tempdir = "0.3.7"
+alloc_counter = "0.0.4"
+criterion = "0.3"
 ethereum-types = { version = "0.8.0", path = "../ethereum-types" }
+rand = "0.7.2"
+tempdir = "0.3.7"
diff --git a/kvdb-rocksdb/benches/.gitignore b/kvdb-rocksdb/benches/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..85954e328
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kvdb-rocksdb/benches/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+_rocksdb_bench_get
diff --git a/kvdb-rocksdb/benches/bench_read_perf.rs b/kvdb-rocksdb/benches/bench_read_perf.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..350fdf2eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kvdb-rocksdb/benches/bench_read_perf.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+// Copyright 2015-2019 Parity Technologies (UK) Ltd.
+// This file is part of Parity Ethereum.
+
+// Parity Ethereum is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+
+// Parity Ethereum is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with Parity Ethereum.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+//! Benchmark RocksDB read performance.
+//! The benchmark setup consists in writing `NEEDLES * NEEDLES_TO_HAYSTACK_RATIO` 32-bytes random
+//! keys with random values 150 +/- 30 bytes long. With 10 000 keys and a ratio of 100 we get one
+//! million keys; ideally the db should be deleted for each benchmark run but in practice it has
+//! little impact on the performance numbers for these small database sizes.
+//! Allocations (on the Rust side) are counted and printed.
+//!
+//! Note that this benchmark is not a good way to measure the performance of the database itself;
+//! its purpose is to be a tool to gauge the performance of the glue code, or work as a starting point
+//! for a more elaborate benchmark of a specific workload.
+
+const NEEDLES: usize = 10_000;
+const NEEDLES_TO_HAYSTACK_RATIO: usize = 100;
+
+use std::io;
+use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
+
+use alloc_counter::{count_alloc, AllocCounterSystem};
+use criterion::{black_box, criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion};
+use ethereum_types::H256;
+use rand::{distributions::Uniform, seq::SliceRandom, Rng};
+
+use kvdb_rocksdb::{Database, DatabaseConfig};
+
+#[global_allocator]
+static A: AllocCounterSystem = AllocCounterSystem;
+
+criterion_group!(benches, get, iter);
+criterion_main!(benches);
+
+/// Opens (or creates) a RocksDB database in the `benches/` folder of the crate with one column
+/// family and default options. Needs manual cleanup.
+fn open_db() -> Database {
+	let tempdir_str = "./benches/_rocksdb_bench_get";
+	let cfg = DatabaseConfig::with_columns(Some(1));
+	let db = Database::open(&cfg, tempdir_str).expect("rocksdb works");
+	db
+}
+
+/// Generate `n` random bytes +/- 20%.
+/// The variability in the payload size lets us simulate payload allocation patterns: `DBValue` is
+/// an `ElasticArray128` so sometimes we save on allocations.
+fn n_random_bytes(n: usize) -> Vec<u8> {
+	let mut rng = rand::thread_rng();
+	let variability: i64 = rng.gen_range(0, (n / 5) as i64);
+	let plus_or_minus: i64 = if variability % 2 == 0 { 1 } else { -1 };
+	let range = Uniform::from(0..u8::max_value());
+	rng.sample_iter(&range).take((n as i64 + plus_or_minus * variability) as usize).collect()
+}
+
+/// Writes `NEEDLES * NEEDLES_TO_HAYSTACK_RATIO` keys to the DB. Keys are random, 32 bytes long and
+/// values are random, 120-180 bytes long. Every `NEEDLES_TO_HAYSTACK_RATIO` keys are kept and
+/// returned in a `Vec` for and used to benchmark point lookup performance. Keys are sorted
+/// lexicographically in the DB, and the benchmark keys are random bytes making the needles are
+/// effectively random points in the key set.
+fn populate(db: &Database) -> io::Result<Vec<H256>> {
+	let mut needles = Vec::with_capacity(NEEDLES);
+	let mut batch = db.transaction();
+	for i in 0..NEEDLES * NEEDLES_TO_HAYSTACK_RATIO {
+		let key = H256::random();
+		if i % NEEDLES_TO_HAYSTACK_RATIO == 0 {
+			needles.push(key.clone());
+			if i % 100_000 == 0 && i > 0 {
+				println!("[populate] {} keys", i);
+			}
+		}
+		// In ethereum keys are mostly 32 bytes and payloads ~140bytes.
+		batch.put(Some(0), &key.as_bytes(), &n_random_bytes(140));
+	}
+	db.write(batch)?;
+	// Clear the overlay
+	db.flush()?;
+	Ok(needles)
+}
+
+fn get(c: &mut Criterion) {
+	let db = open_db();
+	let needles = populate(&db).expect("rocksdb works");
+
+	let mut total_iterations = 0;
+	let mut total_allocs = 0;
+
+	c.bench_function("get key", |b| {
+		b.iter_custom(|iterations| {
+			total_iterations += iterations;
+			let mut elapsed = Duration::new(0, 0);
+			// NOTE: counts allocations on the Rust side only
+			let (alloc_stats, _) = count_alloc(|| {
+				let start = Instant::now();
+				for _ in 0..iterations {
+					// This has no measurable impact on performance (~30ns)
+					let needle = needles.choose(&mut rand::thread_rng()).expect("needles is not empty");
+					black_box(db.get(Some(0), needle.as_bytes()).unwrap());
+				}
+				elapsed = start.elapsed();
+			});
+			total_allocs += alloc_stats.0;
+			elapsed
+		});
+	});
+	if total_iterations > 0 {
+		println!(
+			"[get key] total: iterations={}, allocations={}; allocations per iter={:.2}\n",
+			total_iterations,
+			total_allocs,
+			total_allocs as f64 / total_iterations as f64
+		);
+	}
+
+	total_iterations = 0;
+	total_allocs = 0;
+	c.bench_function("get key by prefix", |b| {
+		b.iter_custom(|iterations| {
+			total_iterations += iterations;
+			let mut elapsed = Duration::new(0, 0);
+			// NOTE: counts allocations on the Rust side only
+			let (alloc_stats, _) = count_alloc(|| {
+				let start = Instant::now();
+				for _ in 0..iterations {
+					// This has no measurable impact on performance (~30ns)
+					let needle = needles.choose(&mut rand::thread_rng()).expect("needles is not empty");
+					black_box(db.get_by_prefix(Some(0), &needle.as_bytes()[..8]).unwrap());
+				}
+				elapsed = start.elapsed();
+			});
+			total_allocs += alloc_stats.0;
+			elapsed
+		});
+	});
+	if total_iterations > 0 {
+		println!(
+			"[get key by prefix] total: iterations={}, allocations={}; allocations per iter={:.2}\n",
+			total_iterations,
+			total_allocs,
+			total_allocs as f64 / total_iterations as f64
+		);
+	}
+}
+
+fn iter(c: &mut Criterion) {
+	let db = open_db();
+	let mut total_iterations = 0;
+	let mut total_allocs = 0;
+
+	c.bench_function("iterate over 1k keys", |b| {
+		b.iter_custom(|iterations| {
+			total_iterations += iterations;
+			let mut elapsed = Duration::new(0, 0);
+			// NOTE: counts allocations on the Rust side only
+			let (alloc_stats, _) = count_alloc(|| {
+				let start = Instant::now();
+				for _ in 0..iterations {
+					black_box(db.iter(Some(0)).take(1000).collect::<Vec<_>>());
+				}
+				elapsed = start.elapsed();
+			});
+			total_allocs += alloc_stats.0;
+			elapsed
+		});
+	});
+	if total_iterations > 0 {
+		println!(
+			"[iterate over 1k keys] total: iterations={}, allocations={}; allocations per iter={:.2}\n",
+			total_iterations,
+			total_allocs,
+			total_allocs as f64 / total_iterations as f64
+		);
+	}
+
+	total_allocs = 0;
+	total_iterations = 0;
+	c.bench_function("single key from iterator", |b| {
+		b.iter_custom(|iterations| {
+			total_iterations += iterations;
+			let mut elapsed = Duration::new(0, 0);
+			// NOTE: counts allocations on the Rust side only
+			let (alloc_stats, _) = count_alloc(|| {
+				let start = Instant::now();
+				for _ in 0..iterations {
+					black_box(db.iter(Some(0)).next().unwrap());
+				}
+				elapsed = start.elapsed();
+			});
+			total_allocs += alloc_stats.0;
+			elapsed
+		});
+	});
+	if total_iterations > 0 {
+		println!(
+			"[single key from iterator] total: iterations={}, allocations={}; allocations per iter={:.2}\n",
+			total_iterations,
+			total_allocs,
+			total_allocs as f64 / total_iterations as f64
+		);
+	}
+}