diff --git a/apps/core/tests/test_performance.py b/apps/core/tests/test_performance.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..473c13d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/core/tests/test_performance.py
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+import pytest
+from taggit.models import Tag
+
+from apps.blog.models import ArticleIndexPage, ArticlePage, HomePage, TagMetadata
+from apps.blog.tests.factories import AuthorFactory
+
+
+def _build_article_tree(home_page: HomePage, count: int = 12):
+    index = ArticleIndexPage(title="Articles", slug="articles")
+    home_page.add_child(instance=index)
+    author = AuthorFactory()
+    tag = Tag.objects.create(name="Bench", slug="bench")
+    TagMetadata.objects.create(tag=tag, colour="cyan")
+
+    for n in range(count):
+        article = ArticlePage(
+            title=f"Article {n}",
+            slug=f"article-{n}",
+            author=author,
+            summary="summary",
+            body=[("rich_text", "<p>body words</p>")],
+        )
+        index.add_child(instance=article)
+        article.tags.add(tag)
+        article.save_revision().publish()
+    return index
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_homepage_query_budget(client, home_page, django_assert_num_queries):
+    _build_article_tree(home_page, count=8)
+    with django_assert_num_queries(20, exact=False):
+        response = client.get("/")
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_article_index_query_budget(client, home_page, django_assert_num_queries):
+    _build_article_tree(home_page, count=12)
+    with django_assert_num_queries(20, exact=False):
+        response = client.get("/articles/")
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_article_read_query_budget(client, home_page, django_assert_num_queries):
+    index = _build_article_tree(home_page, count=4)
+    article = ArticlePage.objects.child_of(index).live().first()
+    assert article is not None
+    with django_assert_num_queries(20, exact=False):
+        response = client.get(article.url)
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+
+
+def test_read_time_benchmark(benchmark):
+    author = AuthorFactory.build()
+    body = [("rich_text", "<p>" + "word " * 1000 + "</p>")]
+    article = ArticlePage(title="Bench", slug="bench", author=author, summary="summary", body=body)
+
+    result = benchmark(article._compute_read_time)
+    assert result >= 1