diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_unicodeobject.h b/Include/internal/pycore_unicodeobject.h
index 20497ee9301..3f27dfd8195 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_unicodeobject.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_unicodeobject.h
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ extern PyObject* _PyUnicode_FormatLong(PyObject *, int, int, int);
 
 /* Fast equality check when the inputs are known to be exact unicode types
    and where the hash values are equal (i.e. a very probable match) */
-extern int _PyUnicode_EQ(PyObject *, PyObject *);
+PyAPI_FUNC(int) _PyUnicode_EQ(PyObject *, PyObject *);
 
 // Equality check.
 // Export for '_pickle' shared extension.
diff --git a/Modules/_testcapimodule.c b/Modules/_testcapimodule.c
index 5966eb674cf..a2604bfac21 100644
--- a/Modules/_testcapimodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_testcapimodule.c
@@ -3329,6 +3329,126 @@ test_critical_sections(PyObject *module, PyObject *Py_UNUSED(args))
     Py_RETURN_NONE;
 }
 
+static PyObject *
+bench_eq(PyObject *module, PyObject *args)
+{
+    extern int _PyUnicode_EQ(PyObject *, PyObject *);
+
+    Py_ssize_t loops;
+    PyObject *a, *b;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "nOO", &loops, &a, &b)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    PyTime_t t1, t2;
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t1);
+
+    for (Py_ssize_t i=0; i < loops; i++) {
+        int eq = _PyUnicode_EQ(a, b);
+        if (eq != 1) {
+            abort();
+        }
+    }
+
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t2);
+    return PyFloat_FromDouble(PyTime_AsSecondsDouble(t2 - t1));
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+bench__equal(PyObject *module, PyObject *args)
+{
+    extern int _PyUnicode_Equal(PyObject *, PyObject *);
+
+    Py_ssize_t loops;
+    PyObject *a, *b;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "nOO", &loops, &a, &b)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    PyTime_t t1, t2;
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t1);
+
+    for (Py_ssize_t i=0; i < loops; i++) {
+        int eq = _PyUnicode_Equal(a, b);
+        if (eq != 1) {
+            abort();
+        }
+    }
+
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t2);
+    return PyFloat_FromDouble(PyTime_AsSecondsDouble(t2 - t1));
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+bench_equal(PyObject *module, PyObject *args)
+{
+    Py_ssize_t loops;
+    PyObject *a, *b;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "nOO", &loops, &a, &b)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    PyTime_t t1, t2;
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t1);
+
+    for (Py_ssize_t i=0; i < loops; i++) {
+        int eq = PyUnicode_Equal(a, b);
+        if (eq != 1) {
+            abort();
+        }
+    }
+
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t2);
+    return PyFloat_FromDouble(PyTime_AsSecondsDouble(t2 - t1));
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+bench_compare(PyObject *module, PyObject *args)
+{
+    Py_ssize_t loops;
+    PyObject *a, *b;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "nOO", &loops, &a, &b)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    PyTime_t t1, t2;
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t1);
+
+    for (Py_ssize_t i=0; i < loops; i++) {
+        int eq = PyUnicode_Compare(a, b);
+        if (eq != 0) {
+            abort();
+        }
+    }
+
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t2);
+    return PyFloat_FromDouble(PyTime_AsSecondsDouble(t2 - t1));
+}
+
+static PyObject *
+bench_richcmp(PyObject *module, PyObject *args)
+{
+    Py_ssize_t loops;
+    PyObject *a, *b;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "nOO", &loops, &a, &b)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    PyTime_t t1, t2;
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t1);
+
+    for (Py_ssize_t i=0; i < loops; i++) {
+        PyObject *res = PyUnicode_RichCompare(a, b, Py_EQ);
+        if (!PyObject_IsTrue(res)) {
+            abort();
+        }
+        Py_DECREF(res);
+    }
+
+    (void)PyTime_PerfCounterRaw(&t2);
+    return PyFloat_FromDouble(PyTime_AsSecondsDouble(t2 - t1));
+}
+
 static PyMethodDef TestMethods[] = {
     {"set_errno",               set_errno,                       METH_VARARGS},
     {"test_config",             test_config,                     METH_NOARGS},
@@ -3469,6 +3589,11 @@ static PyMethodDef TestMethods[] = {
     {"test_weakref_capi", test_weakref_capi, METH_NOARGS},
     {"function_set_warning", function_set_warning, METH_NOARGS},
     {"test_critical_sections", test_critical_sections, METH_NOARGS},
+    {"bench_eq", bench_eq, METH_VARARGS},
+    {"bench__equal", bench__equal, METH_VARARGS},
+    {"bench_equal", bench_equal, METH_VARARGS},
+    {"bench_compare", bench_compare, METH_VARARGS},
+    {"bench_richcmp", bench_richcmp, METH_VARARGS},
     {NULL, NULL} /* sentinel */
 };