diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index e082982a03a..2649ace1189 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -99,6 +99,37 @@ jobs:
           key: tox-cache-${{ matrix.tox-environment }}-${{ hashFiles('tox.ini', 'dev-requirements.txt') }}-core
       - name: run tox
         run: tox -e ${{ matrix.tox-environment }}
+  benchmark:
+    env:
+      # We use these variables to convert between tox and GHA version literals
+      py35: 3.5
+      py36: 3.6
+      py37: 3.7
+      py38: 3.8
+      pypy3: pypy3
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false  # ensures the entire test matrix is run, even if one permutation fails
+      matrix:
+        python-version: [ py35, py36, py37, py38, pypy3 ]
+        os: [ ubuntu-latest ]
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Core Repo @ SHA - ${{ github.sha }}
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Set up Python ${{ env[matrix.python-version] }}
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ env[matrix.python-version] }}
+      - name: Install tox
+        run: pip install -U tox-factor
+      - name: Cache tox environment
+        # Preserves .tox directory between runs for faster installs
+        uses: actions/cache@v2
+        with:
+          path: .tox
+          key: tox-cache-${{ matrix.python-version }}-benchmark-${{ matrix.os }}-${{ hashFiles('tox.ini', 'dev-requirements.txt') }}-core
+      - name: run tox
+        run: tox -f ${{ matrix.python-version }}-benchmark
   contrib-build:
     env:
       # We use these variables to convert between tox and GHA version literals
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/benchmarks/trace/test_benchmark__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/benchmarks/trace/test_benchmark__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6528bc4a1d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/benchmarks/trace/test_benchmark__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import opentelemetry.sdk.trace as trace
+from opentelemetry.sdk.resources import Resource
+from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import sampling
+
+tracer = trace.TracerProvider(
+    sampler=sampling.DEFAULT_ON,
+    resource=Resource(
+        {
+            "service.name": "A123456789",
+            "service.version": "1.34567890",
+            "service.instance.id": "123ab456-a123-12ab-12ab-12340a1abc12",
+        }
+    ),
+).get_tracer("sdk_tracer_provider")
+
+
+def test_b3_propagator_start_span(benchmark):
+    def benchmark_start_as_current_span():
+        span = tracer.start_span(
+            "benchmarkedSpan",
+            attributes={"long.attribute": -10000000001000000000}
+        )
+        span.add_event("benchmarkEvent")
+        span.end()
+
+    benchmark(benchmark_start_as_current_span)
+
+
+def test_b3_propagator_start_as_current_span(benchmark):
+    def benchmark_start_as_current_span():
+        with tracer.start_as_current_span(
+            "benchmarkedSpan",
+            attributes={"long.attribute": -10000000001000000000}
+        ) as span:
+            span.add_event("benchmarkEvent")
+
+    benchmark(benchmark_start_as_current_span)
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index b9682256458..8be99d3da68 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ envlist =
 deps =
   -c dev-requirements.txt
   test: pytest
+  benchmark: pytest-benchmark
   coverage: pytest
   coverage: pytest-cov
   mypy,mypyinstalled: mypy
@@ -78,6 +79,8 @@ changedir =
   test-exporter-prometheus: exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/tests
   test-exporter-zipkin: exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin/tests
 
+  benchmark-core-sdk: opentelemetry-sdk/benchmarks
+
 commands_pre =
 ; Install without -e to test the actual installation
   py3{5,6,7,8}: python -m pip install -U pip setuptools wheel
@@ -85,6 +88,8 @@ commands_pre =
 ; cases but it saves a lot of boilerplate in this file.
   test: pip install {toxinidir}/opentelemetry-api {toxinidir}/opentelemetry-sdk {toxinidir}/tests/util
 
+  benchmark: pip install {toxinidir}/opentelemetry-api {toxinidir}/opentelemetry-sdk
+
   test-core-proto: pip install {toxinidir}/opentelemetry-proto
   instrumentation: pip install {toxinidir}/opentelemetry-instrumentation
 
@@ -114,6 +119,7 @@ commands_pre =
 
 commands =
   test: pytest {posargs}
+  benchmark: pytest {posargs}
   coverage: {toxinidir}/scripts/coverage.sh
 
   mypy: mypy --namespace-packages opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/