diff --git a/tracing-opentelemetry/Cargo.toml b/tracing-opentelemetry/Cargo.toml
index 0d7f12fa04..0b74aaa7ad 100644
--- a/tracing-opentelemetry/Cargo.toml
+++ b/tracing-opentelemetry/Cargo.toml
@@ -31,3 +31,11 @@ tracing-log = { path = "../tracing-log", version = "0.1", default-features = fal
 [dev-dependencies]
 async-trait = "0.1"
 opentelemetry-jaeger = "0.12"
+criterion = { version = "0.3", default_features = false }
+
+[lib]
+bench = false
+
+[[bench]]
+name = "trace"
+harness = false
diff --git a/tracing-opentelemetry/benches/trace.rs b/tracing-opentelemetry/benches/trace.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..92498cc00e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tracing-opentelemetry/benches/trace.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+use criterion::{criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion};
+use opentelemetry::{
+    sdk::trace::{Tracer, TracerProvider},
+    trace::{SpanBuilder, Tracer as _, TracerProvider as _},
+    Context,
+};
+use std::time::SystemTime;
+use tracing::trace_span;
+use tracing_subscriber::prelude::*;
+
+fn many_children(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    let mut group = c.benchmark_group("otel_many_children");
+
+    group.bench_function("spec_baseline", |b| {
+        let provider = TracerProvider::default();
+        let tracer = provider.get_tracer("bench", None);
+        b.iter(|| {
+            fn dummy(tracer: &Tracer, cx: &Context) {
+                for _ in 0..99 {
+                    tracer.start_with_context("child", cx.clone());
+                }
+            }
+
+            tracer.in_span("parent", |cx| dummy(&tracer, &cx));
+        });
+    });
+
+    {
+        let _subscriber = tracing_subscriber::registry()
+            .with(RegistryAccessLayer)
+            .set_default();
+        group.bench_function("no_data_baseline", |b| b.iter(tracing_harness));
+    }
+
+    {
+        let _subscriber = tracing_subscriber::registry()
+            .with(OtelDataLayer)
+            .set_default();
+        group.bench_function("data_only_baseline", |b| b.iter(tracing_harness));
+    }
+
+    {
+        let provider = TracerProvider::default();
+        let tracer = provider.get_tracer("bench", None);
+        let otel_layer = tracing_opentelemetry::layer()
+            .with_tracer(tracer)
+            .with_tracked_inactivity(false);
+        let _subscriber = tracing_subscriber::registry()
+            .with(otel_layer)
+            .set_default();
+
+        group.bench_function("full", |b| b.iter(tracing_harness));
+    }
+}
+
+struct NoDataSpan;
+struct RegistryAccessLayer;
+
+impl<S> tracing_subscriber::Layer<S> for RegistryAccessLayer
+where
+    S: tracing_core::Subscriber + for<'span> tracing_subscriber::registry::LookupSpan<'span>,
+{
+    fn new_span(
+        &self,
+        _attrs: &tracing_core::span::Attributes<'_>,
+        id: &tracing::span::Id,
+        ctx: tracing_subscriber::layer::Context<'_, S>,
+    ) {
+        let span = ctx.span(id).expect("Span not found, this is a bug");
+        let mut extensions = span.extensions_mut();
+        extensions.insert(NoDataSpan);
+    }
+
+    fn on_close(&self, id: tracing::span::Id, ctx: tracing_subscriber::layer::Context<'_, S>) {
+        let span = ctx.span(&id).expect("Span not found, this is a bug");
+        let mut extensions = span.extensions_mut();
+
+        if let Some(no_data) = extensions.remove::<NoDataSpan>() {
+            drop(no_data)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+struct OtelDataLayer;
+
+impl<S> tracing_subscriber::Layer<S> for OtelDataLayer
+where
+    S: tracing_core::Subscriber + for<'span> tracing_subscriber::registry::LookupSpan<'span>,
+{
+    fn new_span(
+        &self,
+        attrs: &tracing_core::span::Attributes<'_>,
+        id: &tracing::span::Id,
+        ctx: tracing_subscriber::layer::Context<'_, S>,
+    ) {
+        let span = ctx.span(id).expect("Span not found, this is a bug");
+        let mut extensions = span.extensions_mut();
+        extensions.insert(
+            SpanBuilder::from_name(attrs.metadata().name().to_string())
+                .with_start_time(SystemTime::now()),
+        );
+    }
+
+    fn on_close(&self, id: tracing::span::Id, ctx: tracing_subscriber::layer::Context<'_, S>) {
+        let span = ctx.span(&id).expect("Span not found, this is a bug");
+        let mut extensions = span.extensions_mut();
+
+        if let Some(builder) = extensions.remove::<SpanBuilder>() {
+            builder.with_end_time(SystemTime::now());
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+fn tracing_harness() {
+    fn dummy() {
+        for _ in 0..99 {
+            let child = trace_span!("child");
+            let _enter = child.enter();
+        }
+    }
+
+    let parent = trace_span!("parent");
+    let _enter = parent.enter();
+
+    dummy();
+}
+
+criterion_group!(benches, many_children);
+criterion_main!(benches);