diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 9b4b962a2d..d3547fec27 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ var hasFlag = require('has-flag');
 var serializeError = require('serialize-error');
 var Runner = require('./lib/runner');
 var runner = new Runner();
+var cache = require('cacha')('.ava/cache');
+
+cache.clean();
 
 // if fail-fast is enabled, use this variable to detect,
 // that no more tests should be logged
diff --git a/lib/babel.js b/lib/babel.js
index 8f78dd45c2..38177a0d9b 100644
--- a/lib/babel.js
+++ b/lib/babel.js
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 var resolveFrom = require('resolve-from');
 var createEspowerPlugin = require('babel-plugin-espower/create');
 var requireFromString = require('require-from-string');
+var hasha = require('hasha');
+var cache = require('cacha')('.ava/cache');
 
 var hasGenerators = parseInt(process.version.slice(1), 10) > 0;
 var testPath = process.argv[2];
@@ -24,13 +26,24 @@ var options = {
 	]
 };
 
-var transpiled = babel.transformFileSync(testPath, options);
-requireFromString(transpiled.code, testPath, {
-	appendPaths: module.paths
-});
-
 process.on('message', function (message) {
 	if (message['ava-kill-command']) {
 		process.exit(0);
 	}
 });
+
+var hash = hasha.fromFileSync(testPath);
+
+cache.get(hash, 'utf8')
+	.then(function (code) {
+		if (code === undefined) {
+			return cache.set(hash, babel.transformFileSync(testPath, options).code, 'utf8');
+		}
+
+		return code;
+	})
+	.then(function (code) {
+		requireFromString(code, testPath, {
+			appendPaths: module.paths
+		});
+	});
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 36f967c38f..9b770e57ff 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
     "babel-plugin-espower": "^1.1.0",
     "babel-runtime": "^5.8.29",
     "bluebird": "^3.0.0",
+    "cacha": "^1.0.1",
     "chalk": "^1.0.0",
     "co-with-promise": "^4.6.0",
     "core-assert": "^0.1.0",
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@
     "fn-name": "^2.0.0",
     "globby": "^3.0.1",
     "has-flag": "^1.0.0",
+    "hasha": "^2.0.2",
     "is-generator": "^1.0.2",
     "meow": "^3.3.0",
     "plur": "^2.0.0",