diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..522dcc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+gcc -Wall -shared -fPIC -o gc_benchmarks.so measure_gc_cycles.c
diff --git a/measure_gc_cycles.c b/measure_gc_cycles.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c5114c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/measure_gc_cycles.c
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+// Based on `https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/perf_event_open.2.html`
+
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
+#include <linux/perf_event.h>
+#include <asm/unistd.h>
+
+long long total_count = 0;
+long fd = 0;
+
+void perf_event_reset();
+
+void perf_event_start()
+{
+    struct perf_event_attr pe;
+    memset(&pe, 0, sizeof(pe));
+    pe.type = PERF_TYPE_HARDWARE;
+    pe.size = sizeof(pe);
+    pe.config = PERF_COUNT_HW_CPU_CYCLES;
+    pe.disabled = 1;
+    pe.exclude_kernel = 1;
+    pe.exclude_hv = 1;
+
+    fd = syscall(__NR_perf_event_open, &pe, 0, -1, -1, 0);
+    if (fd == -1) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Error opening perf event\n");
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
+    perf_event_reset();
+}
+
+void perf_event_reset()
+{
+    ioctl(fd, PERF_EVENT_IOC_RESET, 0);
+    ioctl(fd, PERF_EVENT_IOC_ENABLE, 0);
+}
+
+
+void perf_event_count()
+{
+    long long count;
+    ioctl(fd, PERF_EVENT_IOC_DISABLE, 0);
+    read(fd, &count, sizeof(count));
+    total_count += count;
+}
+
+long long perf_event_get_count()
+{
+    return total_count;
+}
diff --git a/run_benchmarks.jl b/run_benchmarks.jl
index 0593714..860f0e6 100644
--- a/run_benchmarks.jl
+++ b/run_benchmarks.jl
@@ -45,10 +45,11 @@ function run_bench(runs, threads, file, show_json = false)
     times = []
     gc_diff = []
     gc_end = []
+    gc_cycles = []
     for _ in 1:runs
         # uglyness to communicate over non stdout (specifically file descriptor 3)
         p = Base.PipeEndpoint()
-        cmd = `$JULIAVER --project=. --threads=$threads $file SERIALIZE`
+        cmd = `$JULIAVER --project=. --threads=$threads $file SERIALIZE --no-cycles-count`
         cmd = run(Base.CmdRedirect(cmd, p, 3), stdin, stdout, stderr, wait=false)
         r = deserialize(p)
         @assert success(cmd)
@@ -57,16 +58,25 @@ function run_bench(runs, threads, file, show_json = false)
         push!(times, r.times)
         push!(gc_diff, r.gc_diff)
         push!(gc_end, r.gc_end)
+        # run once more to measure cycles
+        p = Base.PipeEndpoint()
+        cmd = `$JULIAVER --project=. --threads=$threads $file SERIALIZE --cycles-count`
+        cmd = run(Base.CmdRedirect(cmd, p, 3), stdin, stdout, stderr, wait=false)
+        r = deserialize(p)
+        @assert success(cmd)
+        # end uglyness
+        push!(gc_cycles, r.gc_cycles)
     end
     total_stats = get_stats(times) ./ 1_000_000
     gc_time = get_stats(map(stat->stat.total_time, gc_end)) ./ 1_000_000
+    gc_cycles = get_stats(gc_cycles) ./ 1_000_000
     mark_time = get_stats(map(stat->stat.total_mark_time, gc_end)) ./ 1_000_000
     sweep_time = get_stats(map(stat->stat.total_sweep_time, gc_end)) ./ 1_000_000
     max_pause = get_stats(map(stat->stat.max_pause, gc_end)) ./ 1_000_000
     time_to_safepoint = get_stats(map(stat->stat.time_to_safepoint, gc_end)) ./ 1_000
     max_mem = get_stats(map(stat->stat.max_memory, gc_end)) ./ 1024^2
     pct_gc = get_stats(map((t,stat)->(stat.total_time/t), times, gc_diff)) .* 100
-
+    
     header = (["", "total time", "gc time", "mark time", "sweep time", "max GC pause", "time to safepoint", "max heap", "percent gc"],
               ["", "ms",         "ms",       "ms",          "ms",       "ms",          "us",                "MB",       "%"        ])
     labels = ["minimum", "median", "maximum", "stdev"]
@@ -85,7 +95,7 @@ function run_bench(runs, threads, file, show_json = false)
                      ("pct gc", pct_gc)])
         JSON.print(data)
     else
-        data = hcat(labels, total_stats, gc_time, mark_time, sweep_time, max_pause, time_to_safepoint, max_mem, pct_gc)
+        data = hcat(labels, total_stats, gc_time, gc_cycles, mark_time, sweep_time, max_pause, time_to_safepoint, max_mem, pct_gc)
         pretty_table(data; header, formatters=ft_printf("%0.0f"), highlighters)
     end
 end
diff --git a/utils.jl b/utils.jl
index 93a32cb..702c729 100644
--- a/utils.jl
+++ b/utils.jl
@@ -1,7 +1,17 @@
 using Pkg
 Pkg.instantiate() # It is dumb that I have to do this
+using Libdl
 using Serialization
 
+const GC_LIB = "../../../gc_benchmarks.so"
+const lib = Libdl.dlopen(GC_LIB)
+const sym_start = Libdl.dlsym(lib, :perf_event_start)
+const sym_reset = Libdl.dlsym(lib, :perf_event_reset)
+const sym_count = Libdl.dlsym(lib, :perf_event_count)
+const sym_get_count = Libdl.dlsym(lib, :perf_event_get_count)
+
+const count_cycles = ARGS[2]
+
 macro gctime(ex)
     fc = isdefined(Base.Experimental, Symbol("@force_compile")) ?
         :(Base.Experimental.@force_compile) :
@@ -10,6 +20,13 @@ macro gctime(ex)
         $fc
         local result
         try
+            if count_cycles == "--cycles-count"
+                ccall(sym_start, Cvoid, ())
+                ccall(:jl_gc_set_cb_pre_gc, Cvoid, (Ptr{Cvoid}, Cint),
+                      sym_reset, true)
+                ccall(:jl_gc_set_cb_post_gc, Cvoid, (Ptr{Cvoid}, Cint),
+                      sym_count, true)
+            end
             local start_gc_num = Base.gc_num()
             local start_time = time_ns()
             local val = $(esc(ex))
@@ -19,7 +36,8 @@ macro gctime(ex)
                 value = val,
                 times = (end_time - start_time),
                 gc_diff = Base.GC_Diff(end_gc_num, start_gc_num),
-                gc_end = end_gc_num
+                gc_end = end_gc_num,
+                gc_cycles = ccall(sym_get_count, Clonglong, ()),
             )
         catch e
             @show e
@@ -27,7 +45,8 @@ macro gctime(ex)
                 value = e,
                 times = NaN,
                 gc_diff = Base.GC_Diff(end_gc_num, start_gc_num),
-                gc_end = end_gc_num
+                gc_end = end_gc_num,
+                gc_cycles = NaN,
             )
         end
         if "SERIALIZE" in ARGS