diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 56cecbe7ae67..fe1655b8ca7b 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -2537,6 +2537,8 @@ project(':jmh-benchmarks') {
     implementation project(':storage')
     implementation project(':streams')
     implementation project(':core')
+    implementation project(':connect:api')
+    implementation project(':connect:transforms')
     implementation project(':clients').sourceSets.test.output
     implementation project(':core').sourceSets.test.output
 
diff --git a/checkstyle/import-control-jmh-benchmarks.xml b/checkstyle/import-control-jmh-benchmarks.xml
index 4cbd34f89cbf..1160e3f67dfd 100644
--- a/checkstyle/import-control-jmh-benchmarks.xml
+++ b/checkstyle/import-control-jmh-benchmarks.xml
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
     <allow pkg="org.apache.kafka.image"/>
     <allow pkg="org.apache.kafka.metadata"/>
     <allow pkg="org.apache.kafka.timeline" />
+    <allow pkg="org.apache.kafka.connect" />
 
     <subpackage name="cache">
     </subpackage>
diff --git a/connect/transforms/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/transforms/ReplaceField.java b/connect/transforms/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/transforms/ReplaceField.java
index fb02577e99ac..a70acb60a58a 100644
--- a/connect/transforms/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/transforms/ReplaceField.java
+++ b/connect/transforms/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/transforms/ReplaceField.java
@@ -33,8 +33,10 @@
 
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 import static org.apache.kafka.connect.transforms.util.Requirements.requireMap;
 import static org.apache.kafka.connect.transforms.util.Requirements.requireStruct;
@@ -80,8 +82,8 @@ public String toString() {
 
     private static final String PURPOSE = "field replacement";
 
-    private List<String> exclude;
-    private List<String> include;
+    private Set<String> exclude;
+    private Set<String> include;
     private Map<String, String> renames;
     private Map<String, String> reverseRenames;
 
@@ -94,8 +96,8 @@ public void configure(Map<String, ?> configs) {
             {ConfigName.EXCLUDE, "blacklist"},
         }));
 
-        exclude = config.getList(ConfigName.EXCLUDE);
-        include = config.getList(ConfigName.INCLUDE);
+        exclude = new HashSet<>(config.getList(ConfigName.EXCLUDE));
+        include = new HashSet<>(config.getList(ConfigName.INCLUDE));
         renames = parseRenameMappings(config.getList(ConfigName.RENAME));
         reverseRenames = invert(renames);
 
diff --git a/jmh-benchmarks/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/jmh/connect/ReplaceFieldBenchmark.java b/jmh-benchmarks/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/jmh/connect/ReplaceFieldBenchmark.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..808441615066
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jmh-benchmarks/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/jmh/connect/ReplaceFieldBenchmark.java
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You 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 org.apache.kafka.jmh.connect;
+
+import org.apache.kafka.connect.source.SourceRecord;
+import org.apache.kafka.connect.transforms.ReplaceField;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Benchmark;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.BenchmarkMode;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Fork;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Level;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Measurement;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Mode;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.OutputTimeUnit;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Param;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Scope;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Setup;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.State;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Warmup;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import java.util.stream.IntStream;
+
+
+/**
+ * This benchmark tests the performance of the {@link ReplaceField} {@link org.apache.kafka.connect.transforms.Transformation SMT}
+ * when configured with a large number of include and exclude fields and applied on a {@link SourceRecord} containing a similarly
+ * large number of fields.
+ */
+@State(Scope.Benchmark)
+@Fork(value = 1)
+@Warmup(iterations = 3)
+@Measurement(iterations = 5)
+@BenchmarkMode(Mode.AverageTime)
+@OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS)
+public class ReplaceFieldBenchmark {
+
+    @Param({"100", "1000", "10000"})
+    private int valueFieldCount;
+    @Param({"1", "100", "10000"})
+    private int includeExcludeFieldCount;
+    private ReplaceField<SourceRecord> replaceFieldSmt;
+    private SourceRecord record;
+
+    @Setup(Level.Trial)
+    public void setup() {
+        this.replaceFieldSmt = new ReplaceField.Value<>();
+        Map<String, String> replaceFieldConfigs = new HashMap<>();
+        replaceFieldConfigs.put("exclude",
+                IntStream.range(0, 2 * includeExcludeFieldCount).filter(x -> (x & 1) == 0).mapToObj(x -> "Field-" + x).collect(Collectors.joining(",")));
+        replaceFieldConfigs.put("include",
+                IntStream.range(0, 2 * includeExcludeFieldCount).filter(x -> (x & 1) == 1).mapToObj(x -> "Field-" + x).collect(Collectors.joining(",")));
+        replaceFieldSmt.configure(replaceFieldConfigs);
+
+        Map<String, Object> value = new HashMap<>();
+        IntStream.range(0, valueFieldCount).forEach(x -> value.put("Field-" + x, new Object()));
+        this.record = new SourceRecord(null, null, null, null, null, value);
+    }
+
+    @Benchmark
+    public void includeExcludeReplaceFieldBenchmark() {
+        replaceFieldSmt.apply(record);
+    }
+}