diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 84d036c2..a7202bec 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -124,3 +124,9 @@ pip-wheel-metadata/
 mprofile*.dat
 
 *.DS_Store
+
+# asv
+.asv
+benchmarks/results
+benchmarks/html
+benchmarks/env
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 88167935..3831c7d8 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ repos:
       hooks:
           - id: mypy
             args: [--config-file, pyproject.toml]
+            exclude: benchmarks/benchmarks/tools/IO.py
             additional_dependencies:
                 - types-setuptools
                 - types-requests
diff --git a/benchmarks/README.md b/benchmarks/README.md
index af1352ad..04a355ed 100644
--- a/benchmarks/README.md
+++ b/benchmarks/README.md
@@ -1,12 +1,39 @@
-# Benchmarks
-`detect_and_classify.py` contains a simple script that runs
-detection and classification with the small test dataset.
-
-## Memory
-[memory_profiler](https://github.com/pythonprofilers/memory_profiler)
-can be used to profile memory useage. Install, and then run
-`mprof run --include-children --multiprocess detect_and_classify.py`. It is **very**
-important to use these two flags to capture memory usage by the additional
-processes that cellfinder_core uses.
-
-To show the results of the latest profile run, run `mprof plot`.
+# Benchmarking with asv
+[Install asv](https://asv.readthedocs.io/en/stable/installing.html) by running:
+```
+pip install asv
+```
+
+`asv` works roughly as follows:
+1. It creates a virtual environment (as defined in the config)
+2. It installs the software package version of a specific commit (or of a local commit)
+3. It times the benchmarking tests and saves the results to json files
+4. The json files are 'published' into an html dir
+5. The html dir can be visualised in a static website
+
+## Running benchmarks
+To run benchmarks on a specific commit:
+```
+$ asv run 88fbbc33^!
+```
+
+To run them up to a specific commit:
+```
+$ asv run 88fbbc33
+```
+
+To run them on a range of commits:
+```
+$ asv run 827f322b..729abcf3
+```
+
+To collate the benchmarks' results into a viewable website:
+```
+$ asv publish
+```
+This will create a tree of files in the `html` directory, but this cannot be viewed directly from the local filesystem, so we need to put them in a static site. `asv publish` also detects statistically significant decreases of performance, the results can be inspected in the 'Regression' tab of the static site.
+
+To visualise the results in a static site:
+```
+$ asv preview
+```
diff --git a/benchmarks/asv.conf.json b/benchmarks/asv.conf.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1a4e32d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/asv.conf.json
@@ -0,0 +1,188 @@
+{
+    // The version of the config file format.  Do not change, unless
+    // you know what you are doing.
+    "version": 1,
+
+    // The name of the project being benchmarked
+    "project": "cellfinder-core",
+
+    // The project's homepage
+    "project_url": "https://brainglobe.info/documentation/cellfinder/index.html",
+
+    // The URL or local path of the source code repository for the
+    // project being benchmarked
+    // To use the upstream repository: uncomment the 1st line (and comment the 2nd)
+    // To use the local repository: comment the 1st line (and uncomment the 2nd)
+    //"repo": "https://github.com/brainglobe/cellfinder-core.git",
+    "repo": "..",
+
+    // The Python project's subdirectory in your repo.  If missing or
+    // the empty string, the project is assumed to be located at the root
+    // of the repository (where setup.py is located)
+    // "repo_subdir": "",
+
+    // Customizable commands for building, installing, and
+    // uninstalling the project. See asv.conf.json documentation.
+    //
+    "install_command": ["in-dir={env_dir} python -mpip install {wheel_file}"],
+    "uninstall_command": ["return-code=any python -mpip uninstall -y {project}"],
+    "build_command": [
+        "python -m pip install build",
+        "python -m build",
+        "PIP_NO_BUILD_ISOLATION=false python -mpip wheel --no-deps --no-index -w {build_cache_dir} {build_dir}"
+    ],
+
+    // List of branches to benchmark. If not provided, defaults to "master"
+    // (for git) or "default" (for mercurial).
+    "branches": ["main"], // for git
+    // "branches": ["default"],    // for mercurial
+
+    // The DVCS being used.  If not set, it will be automatically
+    // determined from "repo" by looking at the protocol in the URL
+    // (if remote), or by looking for special directories, such as
+    // ".git" (if local).
+    // "dvcs": "git",
+
+    // The tool to use to create environments.  May be "conda",
+    // "virtualenv" or other value depending on the plugins in use.
+    // If missing or the empty string, the tool will be automatically
+    // determined by looking for tools on the PATH environment
+    // variable.
+    "environment_type": "conda",
+
+    // timeout in seconds for installing any dependencies in environment
+    // defaults to 10 min
+    //"install_timeout": 600,
+
+    // the base URL to show a commit for the project.
+    "show_commit_url": "http://github.com/brainglobe/cellfinder-core/commit/",
+
+    // The Pythons you'd like to test against.  If not provided, defaults
+    // to the current version of Python used to run `asv`.
+    "pythons": ["3.10"],  // same as pyproject.toml? ["3.8", "3.9", "3.10"]
+
+    // The list of conda channel names to be searched for benchmark
+    // dependency packages in the specified order
+    "conda_channels": ["conda-forge", "defaults"],
+
+    // A conda environment file that is used for environment creation.
+    // "conda_environment_file": "environment.yml",
+
+    // The matrix of dependencies to test.  Each key of the "req"
+    // requirements dictionary is the name of a package (in PyPI) and
+    // the values are version numbers.  An empty list or empty string
+    // indicates to just test against the default (latest)
+    // version. null indicates that the package is to not be
+    // installed. If the package to be tested is only available from
+    // PyPi, and the 'environment_type' is conda, then you can preface
+    // the package name by 'pip+', and the package will be installed
+    // via pip (with all the conda available packages installed first,
+    // followed by the pip installed packages).
+    //
+    // The ``@env`` and ``@env_nobuild`` keys contain the matrix of
+    // environment variables to pass to build and benchmark commands.
+    // An environment will be created for every combination of the
+    // cartesian product of the "@env" variables in this matrix.
+    // Variables in "@env_nobuild" will be passed to every environment
+    // during the benchmark phase, but will not trigger creation of
+    // new environments.  A value of ``null`` means that the variable
+    // will not be set for the current combination.
+    //
+    "matrix": {
+        "req": {},
+        //     "napari": ["", null], // test with and without
+        //     // "six": ["", null],  // test with and without six installed
+        //     // "pip+emcee": [""]   // emcee is only available for install with pip.
+        // },
+        // "env": {"ENV_VAR_1": ["val1", "val2"]},
+        // "env_nobuild": {"ENV_VAR_2": ["val3", null]},
+    },
+
+    // Combinations of libraries/python versions can be excluded/included
+    // from the set to test. Each entry is a dictionary containing additional
+    // key-value pairs to include/exclude.
+    //
+    // An exclude entry excludes entries where all values match. The
+    // values are regexps that should match the whole string.
+    //
+    // An include entry adds an environment. Only the packages listed
+    // are installed. The 'python' key is required. The exclude rules
+    // do not apply to includes.
+    //
+    // In addition to package names, the following keys are available:
+    //
+    // - python
+    //     Python version, as in the *pythons* variable above.
+    // - environment_type
+    //     Environment type, as above.
+    // - sys_platform
+    //     Platform, as in sys.platform. Possible values for the common
+    //     cases: 'linux2', 'win32', 'cygwin', 'darwin'.
+    // - req
+    //     Required packages
+    // - env
+    //     Environment variables
+    // - env_nobuild
+    //     Non-build environment variables
+    //
+    // "exclude": [
+    //     {"python": "3.2", "sys_platform": "win32"}, // skip py3.2 on windows
+    //     {"environment_type": "conda", "req": {"six": null}}, // don't run without six on conda
+    //     {"env": {"ENV_VAR_1": "val2"}}, // skip val2 for ENV_VAR_1
+    // ],
+    //
+    // "include": [
+    //     // additional env for python2.7
+    //     {"python": "2.7", "req": {"numpy": "1.8"}, "env_nobuild": {"FOO": "123"}},
+    //     // additional env if run on windows+conda
+    //     {"platform": "win32", "environment_type": "conda", "python": "2.7", "req": {"libpython": ""}},
+    // ],
+
+    // The directory (relative to the current directory) that benchmarks are
+    // stored in.  If not provided, defaults to "benchmarks"
+    "benchmark_dir": "benchmarks",
+
+    // The directory (relative to the current directory) to cache the Python
+    // environments in.  If not provided, defaults to "env"
+    "env_dir": "env",
+
+    // The directory (relative to the current directory) that raw benchmark
+    // results are stored in.  If not provided, defaults to "results".
+    "results_dir": "results",
+
+    // The directory (relative to the current directory) that the html tree
+    // should be written to.  If not provided, defaults to "html".
+    "html_dir": "html",
+
+    // The number of characters to retain in the commit hashes.
+    // "hash_length": 8,
+
+    // `asv` will cache results of the recent builds in each
+    // environment, making them faster to install next time.  This is
+    // the number of builds to keep, per environment.
+    "build_cache_size": 2,
+
+    // The commits after which the regression search in `asv publish`
+    // should start looking for regressions. Dictionary whose keys are
+    // regexps matching to benchmark names, and values corresponding to
+    // the commit (exclusive) after which to start looking for
+    // regressions.  The default is to start from the first commit
+    // with results. If the commit is `null`, regression detection is
+    // skipped for the matching benchmark.
+    //
+    // "regressions_first_commits": {
+    //    "some_benchmark": "352cdf",  // Consider regressions only after this commit
+    //    "another_benchmark": null,   // Skip regression detection altogether
+    // },
+
+    // The thresholds for relative change in results, after which `asv
+    // publish` starts reporting regressions. Dictionary of the same
+    // form as in ``regressions_first_commits``, with values
+    // indicating the thresholds.  If multiple entries match, the
+    // maximum is taken. If no entry matches, the default is 5%.
+    //
+    // "regressions_thresholds": {
+    //    "some_benchmark": 0.01,     // Threshold of 1%
+    //    "another_benchmark": 0.5,   // Threshold of 50%
+    // },
+}
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmarks/__init__.py b/benchmarks/benchmarks/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmarks/imports.py b/benchmarks/benchmarks/imports.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d7ef25cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmarks/imports.py
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# ------------------------------------
+# Runtime benchmarks
+# ------------------------------------
+def timeraw_import_main():
+    return """
+    from cellfinder_core.main import main
+    """
+
+
+def timeraw_import_io_dask():
+    return """
+    from cellfinder_core.tools.IO import read_with_dask
+    """
+
+
+def timeraw_import_io_tiff_meta():
+    return """
+    from cellfinder_core.tools.IO import get_tiff_meta
+    """
+
+
+def timeraw_import_prep_tensorflow():
+    return """
+    from cellfinder_core.tools.prep import prep_tensorflow
+    """
+
+
+def timeraw_import_prep_models():
+    return """
+    from cellfinder_core.tools.prep import prep_models
+    """
+
+
+def timeraw_import_prep_classification():
+    return """
+    from cellfinder_core.tools.prep import prep_classification
+    """
+
+
+def timeraw_import_prep_training():
+    return """
+    from cellfinder_core.tools.prep import prep_training
+    """
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmarks/tools/IO.py b/benchmarks/benchmarks/tools/IO.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6bc56057
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmarks/tools/IO.py
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from cellfinder_core.tools.IO import get_tiff_meta, read_with_dask
+
+CELLFINDER_CORE_PATH = Path(__file__).parents[3]
+TESTS_DATA_INTEGRATION_PATH = (
+    Path(CELLFINDER_CORE_PATH) / "tests" / "data" / "integration"
+)
+
+
+class Read:
+    # ------------------------------------
+    # Data
+    # ------------------------------
+    detection_crop_planes_ch0 = TESTS_DATA_INTEGRATION_PATH / Path(
+        "detection", "crop_planes", "ch0"
+    )
+    detection_crop_planes_ch1 = TESTS_DATA_INTEGRATION_PATH / Path(
+        "detection", "crop_planes", "ch1"
+    )
+    cells_tif_files = list(
+        Path(TESTS_DATA_INTEGRATION_PATH, "training", "cells").glob("*.tif")
+    )
+    non_cells_tif_files = list(
+        Path(TESTS_DATA_INTEGRATION_PATH, "training", "non_cells").glob(
+            "*.tif"
+        )
+    )
+
+    # ---------------------------------------------
+    # Setup function
+    # --------------------------------------------
+    def setup(self, subdir):
+        self.data_dir = str(subdir)
+
+    # ---------------------------------------------
+    # Reading 3d arrays with dask
+    # --------------------------------------------
+    def time_read_with_dask(self, subdir):
+        read_with_dask(self.data_dir)
+
+    # parameters to sweep across
+    time_read_with_dask.param_names = [
+        "tests_data_integration_subdir",
+    ]
+    time_read_with_dask.params = (
+        [detection_crop_planes_ch0, detection_crop_planes_ch1],
+    )
+
+    # -----------------------------------------------
+    # Reading metadata from tif files
+    # -------------------------------------------------
+    def time_get_tiff_meta(
+        self,
+        subdir,
+    ):
+        get_tiff_meta(self.data_dir)
+
+    # parameters to sweep across
+    time_get_tiff_meta.param_names = [
+        "tests_data_integration_tiffile",
+    ]
+
+    time_get_tiff_meta.params = cells_tif_files + non_cells_tif_files
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmarks/tools/__init__.py b/benchmarks/benchmarks/tools/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmarks/tools/prep.py b/benchmarks/benchmarks/tools/prep.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..09e1e755
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmarks/tools/prep.py
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+import shutil
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from brainglobe_utils.general.system import get_num_processes
+
+from cellfinder_core.tools.prep import (
+    prep_classification,
+    prep_models,
+    prep_tensorflow,
+    prep_training,
+)
+
+
+class PrepModels:
+    # parameters to sweep across
+    param_names = ["model_name"]
+    params = ["resnet50_tv", "resnet50_all"]
+
+    # increase default timeout to allow for download
+    timeout = 600
+
+    # install path
+    def benchmark_install_path(self):
+        # also allow to run as "user" on GH actions?
+        return Path(Path.home() / ".cellfinder-benchmarks")
+
+    def setup(self, model_name):
+        self.n_free_cpus = 2
+        self.n_processes = get_num_processes(
+            min_free_cpu_cores=self.n_free_cpus
+        )
+        self.trained_model = None
+        self.model_weights = None
+        self.install_path = self.benchmark_install_path()
+        self.model_name = model_name
+
+        # remove .cellfinder-benchmarks dir if it exists
+        shutil.rmtree(self.install_path, ignore_errors=True)
+
+    def teardown(self, model_name):
+        # remove .cellfinder-benchmarks dir after benchmarks
+        shutil.rmtree(self.install_path)
+
+    def time_prep_models(self, model_name):
+        prep_models(
+            self.trained_model,
+            self.model_weights,
+            self.install_path,
+            model_name,
+        )
+
+    def time_prep_classification(self, model_name):
+        prep_classification(
+            self.trained_model,
+            self.model_weights,
+            self.install_path,
+            model_name,
+            self.n_free_cpus,
+        )
+
+    def time_prep_training(self, model_name):
+        prep_training(
+            self.n_free_cpus,
+            self.trained_model,
+            self.model_weights,
+            self.install_path,
+            model_name,
+        )
+
+
+class PrepTF:
+    def setup(self):
+        n_free_cpus = 2
+        self.n_processes = get_num_processes(min_free_cpu_cores=n_free_cpus)
+
+    def time_prep_tensorflow(self):
+        prep_tensorflow(self.n_processes)
diff --git a/benchmarks/mem_benchmarks/README.md b/benchmarks/mem_benchmarks/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..af1352ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/mem_benchmarks/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Benchmarks
+`detect_and_classify.py` contains a simple script that runs
+detection and classification with the small test dataset.
+
+## Memory
+[memory_profiler](https://github.com/pythonprofilers/memory_profiler)
+can be used to profile memory useage. Install, and then run
+`mprof run --include-children --multiprocess detect_and_classify.py`. It is **very**
+important to use these two flags to capture memory usage by the additional
+processes that cellfinder_core uses.
+
+To show the results of the latest profile run, run `mprof plot`.
diff --git a/benchmarks/detect_and_classify.py b/benchmarks/mem_benchmarks/detect_and_classify.py
similarity index 100%
rename from benchmarks/detect_and_classify.py
rename to benchmarks/mem_benchmarks/detect_and_classify.py
diff --git a/benchmarks/filter_2d.py b/benchmarks/mem_benchmarks/filter_2d.py
similarity index 100%
rename from benchmarks/filter_2d.py
rename to benchmarks/mem_benchmarks/filter_2d.py
diff --git a/benchmarks/filter_3d.py b/benchmarks/mem_benchmarks/filter_3d.py
similarity index 100%
rename from benchmarks/filter_3d.py
rename to benchmarks/mem_benchmarks/filter_3d.py
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f432275c..9482f3f1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -123,13 +123,14 @@ module = [
     "scipy.*",
     "skimage.*",
     "sklearn.*",
+    "cellfinder_core.tools.prep.*",
 ]
 ignore_missing_imports = true
 
 [[tool.mypy.overrides]]
 module = [
     "cellfinder_core.detect.*",
-    "cellfinder_core.classify.*"
+    "cellfinder_core.classify.*",
 ]
 disallow_untyped_defs = true
 disallow_incomplete_defs = true