diff --git a/p2p/test/resource-manager/echo_test.go b/p2p/test/resource-manager/echo_test.go
index d6896fbdef..a16ace6757 100644
--- a/p2p/test/resource-manager/echo_test.go
+++ b/p2p/test/resource-manager/echo_test.go
@@ -12,7 +12,11 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
-func createEchos(t *testing.T, count int, makeOpts ...func(int) libp2p.Option) []*Echo {
+type fataler interface {
+	Fatal(args ...any)
+}
+
+func createEchos(t fataler, count int, makeOpts ...func(int) libp2p.Option) []*Echo {
 	result := make([]*Echo, 0, count)
 
 	for i := 0; i < count; i++ {
diff --git a/p2p/test/resource-manager/rcmgr_bench_test.go b/p2p/test/resource-manager/rcmgr_bench_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c92749bb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/p2p/test/resource-manager/rcmgr_bench_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package itest
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"log"
+	"testing"
+
+	rcmgr "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p/p2p/host/resource-manager"
+	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p/p2p/host/resource-manager/obs"
+)
+
+func BenchmarkMetrics(b *testing.B) {
+	// this test checks that we can not exceed the inbound conn limit at system level
+	// we specify: 1 conn per peer, 3 conns total, and we try to create 4 conns
+	cfg := rcmgr.DefaultLimits.AutoScale()
+
+	b.Run("on", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+
+		tr, err := obs.NewStatsTraceReporter()
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		echos := createEchos(b, 2, makeRcmgrOption(b, cfg, rcmgr.WithTraceReporter(&tr)))
+		defer closeEchos(echos)
+		defer closeRcmgrs(echos)
+
+		host1 := echos[0]
+		host2 := echos[1]
+
+		for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+			stream, err := host1.Host.NewStream(context.Background(), host2.Host.ID(), EchoProtoID)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			stream.Close()
+			stream.Conn().Close()
+		}
+	})
+
+	b.Run("off", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+
+		echos := createEchos(b, 2, makeRcmgrOption(b, cfg))
+		defer closeEchos(echos)
+		defer closeRcmgrs(echos)
+
+		host1 := echos[0]
+		host2 := echos[1]
+
+		for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+			stream, err := host1.Host.NewStream(context.Background(), host2.Host.ID(), EchoProtoID)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			stream.Close()
+			stream.Conn().Close()
+		}
+	})
+}
diff --git a/p2p/test/resource-manager/rcmgr_test.go b/p2p/test/resource-manager/rcmgr_test.go
index ae546c5af9..7d421a5128 100644
--- a/p2p/test/resource-manager/rcmgr_test.go
+++ b/p2p/test/resource-manager/rcmgr_test.go
@@ -17,9 +17,13 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
-func makeRcmgrOption(t *testing.T, cfg rcmgr.LimitConfig) func(int) libp2p.Option {
+type rcmgrOptionT interface {
+	require.TestingT
+	Name() string
+}
+
+func makeRcmgrOption(t rcmgrOptionT, cfg rcmgr.LimitConfig, opts ...rcmgr.Option) func(int) libp2p.Option {
 	return func(i int) libp2p.Option {
-		var opts []rcmgr.Option
 		if os.Getenv("LIBP2P_TEST_RCMGR_TRACE") == "1" {
 			opts = append(opts, rcmgr.WithTrace(fmt.Sprintf("%s-%d.json.gz", t.Name(), i)))
 		}