diff --git a/benchmark/benchmark.py b/benchmark/benchmark.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3126b5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark/benchmark.py
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+#!/bin/python
+import urllib, urllib2
+import json
+
+class HyriseConnection(object):
+	def __init__(self, host, port):
+		super(HyriseConnection, self).__init__()
+		self.host = host
+		self.port = port
+
+	def __hyriseurl(self):
+		return 'http://%s:%d/query' % (self.host, self.port)
+
+	def __parseResponse(self, response):
+		result = json.loads(response)
+		if 'error' in result:
+			print 'An error occurred: %s' % result['error'][0]
+			return None
+
+		if 'performanceData' in result:
+			pf_data = result['performanceData']
+			total_time = 0
+			parse_time = 0
+			querytask_time = 0
+
+			for operator in pf_data:
+				time_ms = operator['endTime'] - operator['startTime']
+				total_time += time_ms
+				if operator['name'] == 'RequestParseTask':
+					parse_time += time_ms
+				if operator['name'] == 'SQLQueryTask':
+					querytask_time += time_ms
+
+			return {
+				'total_ms': total_time,
+				'parse_ms': parse_time,
+				'querytask_ms': querytask_time,
+				'preparation_ms': parse_time + querytask_time
+			}
+
+	def __sendRequest(self, params):
+		url = self.__hyriseurl()
+		params['performance'] = 'true'
+		data = urllib.urlencode(params)
+		req = urllib2.Request(url, data)
+		try:
+			rsp = urllib2.urlopen(req)
+			response = rsp.read();
+			return self.__parseResponse(response)
+		except TypeError, e:
+			print "An error occurred"
+			return None
+		except Exception, e:
+			return self.__parseResponse(e.read())
+
+	def __aggregatePerfArray(self, perfArray):
+		perf = perfArray[0]
+		for data in perfArray[1:]:
+			for key in data:
+				perf[key] += data[key]
+
+		for key in perf:
+			perf[key] /= len(perfArray)
+
+		return perf
+
+	def executeSingleSQL(self, sql):
+		params = {'sql': sql}
+		return self.__sendRequest(params)
+
+	def executeSingleJSON(self, jsonString):
+		params = {'query': jsonString}
+		return self.__sendRequest(params)
+
+	def executeSQL(self, sql, times=1):
+		perf = [self.executeSingleSQL(sql) for _ in range(times)]
+		return self.__aggregatePerfArray(perf)
+
+	def executeJSON(self, json, times=1):
+		perf = [self.executeSingleJSON(json) for _ in range(times)]
+		return self.__aggregatePerfArray(perf)
+		
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+	hyrise = HyriseConnection('localhost', 5000)
+
+	# Load Table
+	hyrise.executeSQL("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS students FROM TBL FILE 'test/students.tbl';")
+
+	print hyrise.executeSQL("SELECT name, city FROM students WHERE grade <= 2.0", 50)
+
+	print hyrise.executeJSON("""{
+        "operators": {
+            "0": {
+                "type": "GetTable",
+                "name": "students"
+            },
+            "1": {
+            	"type": "SimpleTableScan",
+            	"predicates": [
+       				{"type" : "LTE_V", "in" : 0, "f" : "grade", "value" : 2, "vtype": 1}
+            	]
+            },
+            "2": {
+                "type": "ProjectionScan",
+                "fields": [
+                    "name",
+                    "city"
+                ]
+            }
+        },
+        "edges": [
+            [
+                "0",
+                "1"
+            ],
+            [
+                "1",
+                "2"
+            ]
+        ]
+    }""", 50)