diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/images/pullmanager/benchmarks_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/images/pullmanager/benchmarks_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..69c759b30a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/images/pullmanager/benchmarks_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,306 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2025 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package pullmanager
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"runtime"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/google/uuid"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/rand"
+	kubeletconfig "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/apis/config"
+)
+
+type namedAccessor struct {
+	name         string
+	accessorInit func(b testing.TB) PullRecordsAccessor
+}
+
+type recordAccessorBenchmark struct {
+	namedInit             namedAccessor
+	recordsInCache        int
+	concurrencyMultiplier int
+	cacheHit              bool
+}
+
+type benchmarkedCheckFunc func(b *testing.B, pullManager PullManager, imgRef string)
+
+func BenchmarkPullRecordsAccessorsCacheHit(b *testing.B) {
+	const expectHit = true
+	benchmarkAllPullAccessorsRead(b, expectHit, directRecordReadFunc(expectHit))
+}
+
+func BenchmarkPullRecordsAccessorCacheMiss(b *testing.B) {
+	const expectHit = false
+	benchmarkAllPullAccessorsRead(b, expectHit, directRecordReadFunc(expectHit))
+}
+
+func BenchmarkPullManagerMustAttemptImagePullFalse(b *testing.B) {
+	const expectHit = true
+	benchmarkAllPullAccessorsRead(b, expectHit, mustAttemptPullReadFunc(expectHit))
+}
+
+func BenchmarkPullManagerMustAttemptImagePullTrue(b *testing.B) {
+	const expectHit = false
+	benchmarkAllPullAccessorsRead(b, expectHit, mustAttemptPullReadFunc(expectHit))
+}
+
+func directRecordReadFunc(expectHit bool) benchmarkedCheckFunc {
+	return func(b *testing.B, pullManager PullManager, imgRef string) {
+		_, exists, err := pullManager.recordsAccessor.GetImagePulledRecord(imgRef)
+		if exists != expectHit || err != nil {
+			b.Fatalf("no error expected (got %v); expected record to exist %t, got %t)", err, expectHit, exists)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func mustAttemptPullReadFunc(expectHit bool) benchmarkedCheckFunc {
+	return func(b *testing.B, pullManager PullManager, imgRef string) {
+		mustPull := pullManager.MustAttemptImagePull("test.repo/org/"+imgRef, imgRef, nil, nil)
+		if mustPull != !expectHit {
+			b.Fatalf("MustAttemptImagePull() expected %t, got %t", !expectHit, mustPull)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// BenchmarkPullManagerWriteImagePullIntent tests writing ImagePullIntents, which
+// is the method that is closes to direct writes.
+// We cannot do direct writes though because FSAccessor is not thread-safe and
+// would cause errors when the tests run in parallel.
+func BenchmarkPullManagerWriteImagePullIntent(b *testing.B) {
+	benchmarkAllPullAccessorsWrite(b, func(b *testing.B, pullManager PullManager, imgRef string) {
+		if err := pullManager.RecordPullIntent("test.repo/org/" + imgRef); err != nil {
+			b.Fatalf("failed to write a record: %v", err)
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func BenchmarkPullManagerWriteIfNotChanged(b *testing.B) {
+	benchmarkAllPullAccessorsWrite(b, func(b *testing.B, pullManager PullManager, imgRef string) {
+		if err := pullManager.writePulledRecordIfChanged(
+			"test.repo/org/"+imgRef,
+			imgRef,
+			&kubeletconfig.ImagePullCredentials{NodePodsAccessible: true},
+		); err != nil {
+			b.Fatalf("failed to write a record: %v", err)
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func benchmarkAllPullAccessorsWrite(b *testing.B, writerRunner benchmarkedCheckFunc) {
+	imageRequests := make([]string, 0, generatedTestRequestsNum)
+	for range generatedTestRequestsNum {
+		imageRequests = append(imageRequests, uuid.NewString())
+	}
+
+	createFSAccessor := namedAccessor{"FileSystemAccessor", setupFSRecordsAccessor}
+	const cacheSize = 500
+	createMemCachedAccessor := namedAccessor{
+		"InMemoryCache",
+		func(b testing.TB) PullRecordsAccessor {
+			return setupInMemRecordsAccessor(b, cacheSize, false)
+		},
+	}
+
+	concurrencyMultipliers := []int{0, 1, 2, 8, 16}
+	for _, namedInit := range []namedAccessor{
+		createFSAccessor,
+		createMemCachedAccessor,
+	} {
+		for _, concurrency := range concurrencyMultipliers {
+			b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("Type=%s/ConcurrencyPerCPU=%d", namedInit.name, concurrency), func(b *testing.B) {
+				// an accessor must always be constructed within the leaf b.Run() as there
+				// can be many filesystem writes in the /tmp dir and we want the benchmark
+				// tempdir cleanup to always trigger before the next benchmark is run
+				pullManger := PullManager{
+					recordsAccessor:     namedInit.accessorInit(b),
+					imagePolicyEnforcer: AlwaysVerifyImagePullPolicy(),
+					imageService:        nil, // only needed during init, we're skipping that here
+					intentAccessors:     NewStripedLockSet(int32(runtime.NumCPU())),
+					intentCounters:      &sync.Map{},
+					pulledAccessors:     NewStripedLockSet(int32(runtime.NumCPU())),
+				}
+				runBenchmark(b, pullManger, imageRequests, concurrency, writerRunner)
+			})
+		}
+	}
+
+}
+
+func benchmarkAllPullAccessorsRead(b *testing.B, hit bool, readerRunner benchmarkedCheckFunc) {
+	// Compare FS-cache with InMem-Cache authoritative
+	recordsKepts := []int{50, 100, 200, 500, 2000}
+	concurrencyMultipliers := []int{0, 1, 2, 8, 16}
+
+	createFSAccessor := func(_ int) namedAccessor {
+		return namedAccessor{"FileSystemAccessor", setupFSRecordsAccessor}
+	}
+	createMemCachedAuthoritativeAccessor := func(cacheSize int) namedAccessor {
+		return namedAccessor{
+			"InMemoryCache-Authoritative",
+			func(b testing.TB) PullRecordsAccessor {
+				return setupInMemRecordsAccessor(b, cacheSize, true)
+			},
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, accessorInit := range []func(int) namedAccessor{
+		createFSAccessor,
+		createMemCachedAuthoritativeAccessor,
+	} {
+		for _, concurrency := range concurrencyMultipliers {
+			for _, recordsKept := range recordsKepts {
+				benchmarkPullAccessorCacheRead(b,
+					recordAccessorBenchmark{
+						namedInit:             accessorInit(recordsKept),
+						recordsInCache:        recordsKept,
+						concurrencyMultiplier: concurrency,
+						cacheHit:              hit,
+					},
+					readerRunner,
+				)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Benchmark dependency of InMem-Cache on TotalRecords/CacheSize ratio
+	const nonAuthoritativeRecordsNumber = 2_000
+	for _, concurrency := range concurrencyMultipliers {
+		for _, cacheSize := range []int{2000, 1000, 500, 250, 125} {
+			benchmarkPullAccessorCacheRead(b,
+				recordAccessorBenchmark{
+					namedInit: namedAccessor{
+						fmt.Sprintf("InMemoryCache-NonAuthoritative/Records-CacheSize-Ratio=%d", nonAuthoritativeRecordsNumber/cacheSize),
+						func(b testing.TB) PullRecordsAccessor { return setupInMemRecordsAccessor(b, cacheSize, false) },
+					},
+					recordsInCache:        nonAuthoritativeRecordsNumber,
+					concurrencyMultiplier: concurrency,
+					cacheHit:              hit,
+				},
+				readerRunner,
+			)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+const (
+	generatedTestRequestsNum = 4_000
+)
+
+func benchmarkPullAccessorCacheRead(b *testing.B, bc recordAccessorBenchmark, benchmarkedCheck benchmarkedCheckFunc) {
+	b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("Type=%s/RecordsStored=%d/ConcurrencyPerCPU=%d", bc.namedInit.name, bc.recordsInCache, bc.concurrencyMultiplier), func(b *testing.B) {
+		genRecords, genRequests := generateRecordsAndRequests(bc.recordsInCache, bc.cacheHit)
+
+		// an accessor must always be constructed within the leaf b.Run() as there
+		// can be many filesystem writes in the /tmp dir and we want the benchmark
+		// tempdir cleanup to always trigger before the next benchmark is run
+		accessor := bc.namedInit.accessorInit(b)
+		for _, r := range genRecords {
+			if err := accessor.WriteImagePulledRecord(r); err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to prepare cache - write error: %v", err)
+			}
+		}
+
+		pullManager := &PullManager{
+			recordsAccessor:     accessor,
+			imagePolicyEnforcer: AlwaysVerifyImagePullPolicy(),
+			imageService:        nil, // only needed during init, we're skipping that here
+			intentAccessors:     NewStripedLockSet(int32(runtime.NumCPU())),
+			intentCounters:      &sync.Map{},
+			pulledAccessors:     NewStripedLockSet(int32(runtime.NumCPU())),
+		}
+
+		runBenchmark(b, *pullManager, genRequests, bc.concurrencyMultiplier, benchmarkedCheck)
+	})
+}
+
+func runBenchmark(b *testing.B, pullManger PullManager, generatedImgRefs []string, concurrencyMultiplier int, bf func(b *testing.B, pullManager PullManager, imgRef string)) {
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	if concurrencyMultiplier == 0 {
+		var idx uint
+		for b.Loop() {
+			imgRef := generatedImgRefs[idx%generatedTestRequestsNum]
+			bf(b, pullManger, imgRef)
+			idx++
+		}
+		return
+	}
+
+	// concurrencyMultiplier > 0
+	b.SetParallelism(concurrencyMultiplier)
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.RunParallel(func(p *testing.PB) {
+		idx := uint(rand.IntnRange(0, generatedTestRequestsNum))
+		for p.Next() {
+			imgRef := generatedImgRefs[idx%generatedTestRequestsNum]
+			bf(b, pullManger, imgRef)
+			idx++
+		}
+	})
+	b.StopTimer()
+
+}
+
+func generateRecordsAndRequests(recordsNum int, generateHits bool) ([]*kubeletconfig.ImagePulledRecord, []string) {
+	generatedPulledRecords := make([]*kubeletconfig.ImagePulledRecord, 0, recordsNum)
+	for range recordsNum {
+		imgRef := uuid.NewString()
+		generatedPulledRecords = append(generatedPulledRecords, &kubeletconfig.ImagePulledRecord{
+			ImageRef: string(imgRef),
+			CredentialMapping: map[string]kubeletconfig.ImagePullCredentials{
+				"test.repo/org/" + imgRef: {NodePodsAccessible: true},
+			},
+		})
+	}
+
+	generatedCacheRequests := make([]string, 0, generatedTestRequestsNum)
+	for range generatedTestRequestsNum {
+		var requestRef string
+		if generateHits {
+			requestRef = generatedPulledRecords[rand.IntnRange(0, recordsNum)].ImageRef
+		} else {
+			requestRef = uuid.NewString()
+		}
+		generatedCacheRequests = append(generatedCacheRequests, requestRef)
+	}
+
+	return generatedPulledRecords, generatedCacheRequests
+}
+
+func setupFSRecordsAccessor(t testing.TB) PullRecordsAccessor {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	tempDir := t.TempDir()
+	accessor, err := NewFSPullRecordsAccessor(tempDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to setup filesystem pull records accessor: %v", err)
+	}
+	return accessor
+}
+
+func setupInMemRecordsAccessor(t testing.TB, cacheSize int, authoritative bool) PullRecordsAccessor {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	fsAccessor := setupFSRecordsAccessor(t)
+	memcacheAccessor := NewCachedPullRecordsAccessor(fsAccessor, int32(cacheSize), int32(cacheSize), int32(runtime.NumCPU()))
+	memcacheAccessor.intents.authoritative.Store(authoritative)
+	memcacheAccessor.pulledRecords.authoritative.Store(authoritative)
+
+	return memcacheAccessor
+}