diff --git a/onnxruntime/test/perftest/command_args_parser.cc b/onnxruntime/test/perftest/command_args_parser.cc
index bc6ed2e5e6..863179bd61 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/test/perftest/command_args_parser.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/test/perftest/command_args_parser.cc
@@ -35,12 +35,13 @@ namespace perftest {
       "\t-s: Show statistics result, like P75, P90.\n"
       "\t-v: Show verbose information.\n"
       "\t-x [thread_size]: Use parallel executor, default (without -x): sequential executor.\n"
+      "\t-o [optimization level]: 0: No transformer optimization, 1:basic optimization, 2: full optimization. \n"
       "\t-h: help\n");
 }
 
 /*static*/ bool CommandLineParser::ParseArguments(PerformanceTestConfig& test_config, int argc, ORTCHAR_T* argv[]) {
   int ch;
-  while ((ch = getopt(argc, argv, ORT_TSTR("m:e:r:t:p:x:vhs"))) != -1) {
+  while ((ch = getopt(argc, argv, ORT_TSTR("m:e:r:t:p:x:o:vhs"))) != -1) {
     switch (ch) {
       case 'm':
         if (!CompareCString(optarg, ORT_TSTR("duration"))) {
@@ -96,6 +97,13 @@ namespace perftest {
           return false;
         }
         break;
+      case 'o':
+        test_config.run_config.optimization_level = static_cast<uint32_t>(OrtStrtol<PATH_CHAR_TYPE>(optarg, nullptr));
+        // Valid values are: 0, 1, 2.
+        if (test_config.run_config.optimization_level > 2 ) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        break;
       case '?':
       case 'h':
       default:
diff --git a/onnxruntime/test/perftest/performance_runner.cc b/onnxruntime/test/perftest/performance_runner.cc
index 66dc1625f6..c9defc54a7 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/test/perftest/performance_runner.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/test/perftest/performance_runner.cc
@@ -140,6 +140,10 @@ bool PerformanceRunner::Initialize() {
     sf.DisableSequentialExecution();
   fprintf(stdout, "Setting thread pool size to %d\n", performance_test_config_.run_config.session_thread_pool_size);
   sf.SetSessionThreadPoolSize(performance_test_config_.run_config.session_thread_pool_size);
+
+  // Set optimization level.
+  sf.SetSessionGraphOptimizationLevel(performance_test_config_.run_config.optimization_level);
+
   session_object_ = sf.OrtCreateSession(test_case->GetModelUrl());
 
   auto provider_type = performance_test_config_.machine_config.provider_type_name;
diff --git a/onnxruntime/test/perftest/test_configuration.h b/onnxruntime/test/perftest/test_configuration.h
index 966e665800..182b120789 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/test/perftest/test_configuration.h
+++ b/onnxruntime/test/perftest/test_configuration.h
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ struct RunConfig {
   bool f_verbose{false};
   bool enable_sequential_execution{true};
   int session_thread_pool_size{6};
+  uint32_t optimization_level{2};
 };
 
 struct PerformanceTestConfig {