diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f53288e..6753adf 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -55,3 +55,10 @@ option(ExprTk_BUILD_EXAMPLES "Build ExprTk examples" ON)
 if (ExprTk_BUILD_EXAMPLES)
   add_subdirectory(examples)
 endif ()
+
+# create an ExprTK option for building benchmarks
+option(ExprTk_BUILD_BENCHMARKS "Build ExprTk benchmarks" ON)
+# if ExprTk_BUILD_BENCHMARKS is set to ON, then build the benchmarks
+if (ExprTk_BUILD_BENCHMARKS)
+  add_subdirectory(benchmarks)
+endif ()
diff --git a/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt b/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39d662b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# **************************************************************
+# *         C++ Mathematical Expression Toolkit Library        *
+# *                                                            *
+# * Author: Arash Partow (1999-2023)                           *
+# * URL: https://www.partow.net/programming/exprtk/index.html  *
+# *                                                            *
+# * Copyright notice:                                          *
+# * Free use of the Mathematical Expression Toolkit Library is *
+# * permitted under the guidelines and in accordance with the  *
+# * most current version of the MIT License.                   *
+# * http://www.opensource.org/licenses/MIT                     *
+# *                                                            *
+# **************************************************************
+
+# create executables for benchmark
+add_executable(exprtk_benchmark exprtk_benchmark.cpp)
+target_link_libraries(exprtk_benchmark ExprTk)
diff --git a/exprtk_benchmark.cpp b/benchmarks/exprtk_benchmark.cpp
similarity index 100%
rename from exprtk_benchmark.cpp
rename to benchmarks/exprtk_benchmark.cpp