diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 90f6d69b59..a9b098a00c 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2930,6 +2930,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "clap",
+ "futures",
  "hdrhistogram",
  "humantime",
  "humantime-serde",
diff --git a/pageserver/pagebench/Cargo.toml b/pageserver/pagebench/Cargo.toml
index 3cb3775d7b..57b35ff6b2 100644
--- a/pageserver/pagebench/Cargo.toml
+++ b/pageserver/pagebench/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ edition = "2021"
 [dependencies]
 anyhow.workspace = true
 clap.workspace = true
+futures.workspace = true
 hdrhistogram.workspace = true
 humantime.workspace = true
 humantime-serde.workspace = true
diff --git a/pageserver/pagebench/src/basebackup.rs b/pageserver/pagebench/src/basebackup.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4bca3d68a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pageserver/pagebench/src/basebackup.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,372 @@
+use anyhow::Context;
+use pageserver::client::page_service::BasebackupRequest;
+use utils::lsn::Lsn;
+
+use rand::prelude::*;
+use tokio::sync::Barrier;
+use tokio::task::JoinSet;
+use tracing::{info, instrument};
+use utils::id::TenantId;
+use utils::logging;
+
+use std::cell::RefCell;
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+use std::num::NonZeroUsize;
+use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicU64, Ordering};
+use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
+use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
+
+use crate::util::tenant_timeline_id::TenantTimelineId;
+
+/// GetPage@LatestLSN, uniformly distributed across the compute-accessible keyspace.
+#[derive(clap::Parser)]
+pub(crate) struct Args {
+    #[clap(long, default_value = "http://localhost:9898")]
+    mgmt_api_endpoint: String,
+    #[clap(long, default_value = "postgres://postgres@localhost:64000")]
+    page_service_connstring: String,
+    #[clap(long, default_value = "1")]
+    num_clients: NonZeroUsize,
+    #[clap(long, default_value = "1.0")]
+    gzip_probability: f64,
+    #[clap(long)]
+    runtime: Option<humantime::Duration>,
+    targets: Option<Vec<TenantTimelineId>>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Default)]
+struct LiveStats {
+    completed_requests: AtomicU64,
+}
+
+impl LiveStats {
+    fn inc(&self) {
+        self.completed_requests.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(serde::Serialize)]
+struct Output {
+    total: PerTaskOutput,
+}
+
+const LATENCY_PERCENTILES: [f64; 4] = [95.0, 99.00, 99.90, 99.99];
+
+struct LatencyPercentiles {
+    latency_percentiles: [Duration; 4],
+}
+
+impl serde::Serialize for LatencyPercentiles {
+    fn serialize<S>(&self, serializer: S) -> Result<S::Ok, S::Error>
+    where
+        S: serde::Serializer,
+    {
+        use serde::ser::SerializeMap;
+        let mut ser = serializer.serialize_map(Some(LATENCY_PERCENTILES.len()))?;
+        for p in LATENCY_PERCENTILES {
+            ser.serialize_entry(
+                &format!("p{p}"),
+                &format!(
+                    "{}",
+                    &humantime::format_duration(self.latency_percentiles[0])
+                ),
+            )?;
+        }
+        ser.end()
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(serde::Serialize)]
+struct PerTaskOutput {
+    request_count: u64,
+    #[serde(with = "humantime_serde")]
+    latency_mean: Duration,
+    latency_percentiles: LatencyPercentiles,
+}
+
+struct ThreadLocalStats {
+    latency_histo: hdrhistogram::Histogram<u64>,
+}
+
+impl ThreadLocalStats {
+    fn new() -> Self {
+        Self {
+            // Initialize with fixed bounds so that we panic at runtime instead of resizing the histogram,
+            // which would skew the benchmark results.
+            latency_histo: hdrhistogram::Histogram::new_with_bounds(1, 1_000_000_000, 3).unwrap(),
+        }
+    }
+    fn observe(&mut self, latency: Duration) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+        let micros: u64 = latency
+            .as_micros()
+            .try_into()
+            .context("latency greater than u64")?;
+        self.latency_histo
+            .record(micros)
+            .context("add to histogram")?;
+        Ok(())
+    }
+    fn output(&self) -> PerTaskOutput {
+        let latency_percentiles = std::array::from_fn(|idx| {
+            let micros = self
+                .latency_histo
+                .value_at_percentile(LATENCY_PERCENTILES[idx]);
+            Duration::from_micros(micros)
+        });
+        PerTaskOutput {
+            request_count: self.latency_histo.len(),
+            latency_mean: Duration::from_micros(self.latency_histo.mean() as u64),
+            latency_percentiles: LatencyPercentiles {
+                latency_percentiles,
+            },
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn add(&mut self, other: &Self) {
+        let Self {
+            ref mut latency_histo,
+        } = self;
+        latency_histo.add(&other.latency_histo).unwrap();
+    }
+}
+
+thread_local! {
+    pub static STATS: RefCell<Arc<Mutex<ThreadLocalStats>>> = std::cell::RefCell::new(
+        Arc::new(Mutex::new(ThreadLocalStats::new()))
+    );
+}
+
+pub(crate) fn main(args: Args) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    logging::init(
+        logging::LogFormat::Plain,
+        logging::TracingErrorLayerEnablement::Disabled,
+        logging::Output::Stderr,
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+
+    let thread_local_stats = Arc::new(Mutex::new(Vec::new()));
+
+    let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
+        .on_thread_start({
+            let thread_local_stats = Arc::clone(&thread_local_stats);
+            move || {
+                // pre-initialize the histograms
+                STATS.with(|stats| {
+                    let stats: Arc<_> = Arc::clone(&*stats.borrow());
+                    thread_local_stats.lock().unwrap().push(stats);
+                });
+            }
+        })
+        .enable_all()
+        .build()
+        .unwrap();
+
+    let main_task = rt.spawn(main_impl(args, thread_local_stats));
+    rt.block_on(main_task).unwrap()
+}
+
+struct Target {
+    timeline: TenantTimelineId,
+    timeline_lsn: Lsn,
+}
+
+async fn main_impl(
+    args: Args,
+    thread_local_stats: Arc<Mutex<Vec<Arc<Mutex<ThreadLocalStats>>>>>,
+) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let args: &'static Args = Box::leak(Box::new(args));
+
+    let mgmt_api_client = Arc::new(pageserver::client::mgmt_api::Client::new(
+        args.mgmt_api_endpoint.clone(),
+    ));
+
+    // discover targets
+    let mut timelines: Vec<TenantTimelineId> = Vec::new();
+    if false {
+        timelines = timelines.clone();
+    } else {
+        let tenants: Vec<TenantId> = mgmt_api_client
+            .list_tenants()
+            .await?
+            .into_iter()
+            .map(|ti| ti.id)
+            .collect();
+        let mut js = JoinSet::new();
+        for tenant_id in tenants {
+            js.spawn({
+                let mgmt_api_client = Arc::clone(&mgmt_api_client);
+                async move {
+                    (
+                        tenant_id,
+                        mgmt_api_client.list_timelines(tenant_id).await.unwrap(),
+                    )
+                }
+            });
+        }
+        while let Some(res) = js.join_next().await {
+            let (tenant_id, tl_infos) = res.unwrap();
+            for tl in tl_infos {
+                timelines.push(TenantTimelineId {
+                    tenant_id,
+                    timeline_id: tl.timeline_id,
+                });
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    info!("timelines:\n{:?}", timelines);
+
+    let mut js = JoinSet::new();
+    for timeline in &timelines {
+        js.spawn({
+            let mgmt_api_client = Arc::clone(&mgmt_api_client);
+            let timeline = *timeline;
+            async move {
+                let partitioning = mgmt_api_client
+                    .keyspace(timeline.tenant_id, timeline.timeline_id)
+                    .await?;
+                let timeline_lsn = partitioning.at_lsn;
+
+                anyhow::Ok(Target {
+                    timeline,
+                    timeline_lsn,
+                })
+            }
+        });
+    }
+    let mut all_targets: Vec<Target> = Vec::new();
+    while let Some(res) = js.join_next().await {
+        all_targets.push(res.unwrap().unwrap());
+    }
+
+    let live_stats = Arc::new(LiveStats::default());
+
+    let num_client_tasks = timelines.len();
+    let num_live_stats_dump = 1;
+    let num_work_sender_tasks = 1;
+
+    let start_work_barrier = Arc::new(tokio::sync::Barrier::new(
+        num_client_tasks + num_live_stats_dump + num_work_sender_tasks,
+    ));
+    let all_work_done_barrier = Arc::new(tokio::sync::Barrier::new(num_client_tasks));
+
+    tokio::spawn({
+        let stats = Arc::clone(&live_stats);
+        let start_work_barrier = Arc::clone(&start_work_barrier);
+        async move {
+            start_work_barrier.wait().await;
+            loop {
+                let start = std::time::Instant::now();
+                tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(1)).await;
+                let completed_requests = stats.completed_requests.swap(0, Ordering::Relaxed);
+                let elapsed = start.elapsed();
+                info!(
+                    "RPS: {:.0}",
+                    completed_requests as f64 / elapsed.as_secs_f64()
+                );
+            }
+        }
+    });
+
+    let mut work_senders = HashMap::new();
+    let mut tasks = Vec::new();
+    for tl in &timelines {
+        let (sender, receiver) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel(10); // TODO: not sure what the implications of this are
+        work_senders.insert(tl, sender);
+        tasks.push(tokio::spawn(client(
+            args,
+            *tl,
+            Arc::clone(&start_work_barrier),
+            receiver,
+            Arc::clone(&all_work_done_barrier),
+            Arc::clone(&live_stats),
+        )));
+    }
+
+    let work_sender = async move {
+        start_work_barrier.wait().await;
+        loop {
+            let (target, gzip) = {
+                let mut rng = rand::thread_rng();
+                let target = all_targets.choose(&mut rng).unwrap();
+                (target, rng.gen_bool(args.gzip_probability))
+            };
+            let sender = work_senders.get(&target.timeline).unwrap();
+            // TODO: what if this blocks?
+            sender.send((target.timeline_lsn, gzip)).await.ok().unwrap();
+        }
+    };
+
+    if let Some(runtime) = args.runtime {
+        match tokio::time::timeout(runtime.into(), work_sender).await {
+            Ok(()) => unreachable!("work sender never terminates"),
+            Err(_timeout) => {
+                // this implicitly drops the work_senders, making all the clients exit
+            }
+        }
+    } else {
+        work_sender.await;
+        unreachable!("work sender never terminates");
+    }
+
+    for t in tasks {
+        t.await.unwrap();
+    }
+
+    let output = Output {
+        total: {
+            let mut agg_stats = ThreadLocalStats::new();
+            for stats in thread_local_stats.lock().unwrap().iter() {
+                let stats = stats.lock().unwrap();
+                agg_stats.add(&*stats);
+            }
+            agg_stats.output()
+        },
+    };
+
+    let output = serde_json::to_string_pretty(&output).unwrap();
+    println!("{output}");
+
+    anyhow::Ok(())
+}
+
+#[instrument(skip_all)]
+async fn client(
+    args: &'static Args,
+    timeline: TenantTimelineId,
+    start_work_barrier: Arc<Barrier>,
+    mut work: tokio::sync::mpsc::Receiver<(Lsn, bool)>,
+    all_work_done_barrier: Arc<Barrier>,
+    live_stats: Arc<LiveStats>,
+) {
+    start_work_barrier.wait().await;
+
+    let client =
+        pageserver::client::page_service::Client::new(args.page_service_connstring.clone())
+            .await
+            .unwrap();
+
+    while let Some((lsn, gzip)) = work.recv().await {
+        let start = Instant::now();
+        let copy_out_stream = client
+            .basebackup(&BasebackupRequest {
+                tenant_id: timeline.tenant_id,
+                timeline_id: timeline.timeline_id,
+                lsn: Some(lsn),
+                gzip,
+            })
+            .await
+            .with_context(|| format!("start basebackup for {timeline}"))
+            .unwrap();
+
+        use futures::StreamExt;
+        copy_out_stream.for_each(|_| async move { () }).await;
+        let elapsed = start.elapsed();
+        live_stats.inc();
+        STATS.with(|stats| {
+            stats.borrow().lock().unwrap().observe(elapsed).unwrap();
+        });
+    }
+
+    all_work_done_barrier.wait().await;
+}
diff --git a/pageserver/pagebench/src/main.rs b/pageserver/pagebench/src/main.rs
index 72bb38356d..1119d9f194 100644
--- a/pageserver/pagebench/src/main.rs
+++ b/pageserver/pagebench/src/main.rs
@@ -2,18 +2,21 @@ use clap::Parser;
 
 pub(crate) mod util;
 
+mod basebackup;
 mod getpage_latest_lsn;
 
 /// Component-level performance test for pageserver.
 #[derive(clap::Parser)]
 enum Args {
     GetPageLatestLsn(getpage_latest_lsn::Args),
+    Basebackup(basebackup::Args),
 }
 
 fn main() {
     let args = Args::parse();
     match args {
         Args::GetPageLatestLsn(args) => getpage_latest_lsn::main(args),
+        Args::Basebackup(args) => basebackup::main(args),
     }
     .unwrap()
 }