Quite often, efficient usage of computing resources is a challenge. Performance measurements, comparisons, and the resulting optimizations are a suitable way to accomplish this goal. The BenchIT project provides a framework for performance measurements on UNIX based systems. Our approach combines low requirements on software with a simple interface for measuring kernels and a strict separation of configuration, compiling, measuring, and result evaluation. Unlike most other benchmark systems, the BenchIT environment provides functions on several levels: Measurements on varying problem sizes, graphical presentation of the results, and the capability to automatically compare with other measurements. Those characteristics along with the userfriendly interfaces which allow access to the database, make comparing different algorithms easy when using BenchIT. This paper presents the BenchIT platform and describes first results on selected machines.