diff --git a/benchmarks/run.sh b/benchmarks/run.sh
index fd8ef6f..b5e0a39 100755
--- a/benchmarks/run.sh
+++ b/benchmarks/run.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@ threads="${THREADS:-$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN)}"
 heap="${HEAP:-4g}"
 history="${HISTORY:-64}"
 runs="${RUNS:-3}"
+cache="${CACHE_MB:-0}"
 results="results/scale-$scale-$durability-history-$history"
+if [ "$cache" != 0 ]; then
+	results="$results-cache-$cache"
+fi
 
 ../mvnw -q -f ../pom.xml -Pbenchmarks -DskipTests install
 classpath="target/classes:$(cat target/classpath.txt)"
@@ -22,7 +26,7 @@ rm -rf "$results" && mkdir -p "$results"
 for run in $(seq 1 "$runs"); do
 	for store in hstore hypergraphdb; do
 		java "${jvm[@]}" io.hstore.bench.Comparison run --store "$store" --scale "$scale" --durability "$durability" \
-			--threads "$threads" --history "$history" --out "$results/$store-$run.json"
+			--threads "$threads" --history "$history" --cache-mb "$cache" --out "$results/$store-$run.json"
 	done
 done
 java "${jvm[@]}" io.hstore.bench.Comparison report "$results"/hstore-*.json "$results"/hypergraphdb-*.json | tee "$results/report.md"
diff --git a/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/Comparison.java b/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/Comparison.java
index fa645a8..fb5656c 100644
--- a/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/Comparison.java
+++ b/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/Comparison.java
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
             case "report" -> IO.println(Report.markdown(args));
             default -> {
                 IO.println("""
-                        usage: Comparison run --store hstore|hypergraphdb [--scale N] [--durability async|sync] [--threads N] [--history N] --out FILE
+                        usage: Comparison run --store hstore|hypergraphdb [--scale N] [--durability async|sync] [--threads N] [--history N] [--cache-mb N] --out FILE
                                Comparison report FILE... (runs of two stores; cells show the median and range)""");
                 System.exit(2);
             }
@@ -97,13 +97,14 @@ private static void run(Map<String, String> options) throws Exception {
         int threads = Integer.parseInt(options.getOrDefault("threads", String.valueOf(Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors())));
         Path out = Path.of(options.getOrDefault("out", "results/" + storeName + ".json"));
         Path directory = Files.createTempDirectory("hstore-bench-" + storeName);
+        long cacheBytes = Long.parseLong(options.getOrDefault("cache-mb", "0")) << 20;
         Dataset dataset = Dataset.generate(scale, SEED);
         List<Result> results = new ArrayList<>();
         Map<String, Json> totals = new LinkedHashMap<>();
         long baselineHeap = JvmUsage.retainedHeap();
         Store store = switch (storeName) {
-            case "hstore" -> new HStoreStore(directory, sync, Integer.parseInt(options.getOrDefault("history", "64")));
-            case "hypergraphdb" -> new HyperGraphDbStore(directory, sync);
+            case "hstore" -> new HStoreStore(directory, sync, Integer.parseInt(options.getOrDefault("history", "64")), cacheBytes);
+            case "hypergraphdb" -> new HyperGraphDbStore(directory, sync, cacheBytes);
             default -> throw new IllegalArgumentException("unknown store " + storeName);
         };
         IO.println("%s: %,d nodes, %,d hyperedges, %,d incidences, durability %s, %d threads"
diff --git a/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/HStoreStore.java b/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/HStoreStore.java
index 70d3bd6..63c50fa 100644
--- a/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/HStoreStore.java
+++ b/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/HStoreStore.java
@@ -34,11 +34,17 @@ final class HStoreStore implements Store {
 
     private final int history;
 
-    HStoreStore(Path directory, boolean sync, int history) {
+    private final int cachedNodes;
+    private final long cacheBytes;
+
+    HStoreStore(Path directory, boolean sync, int history, long cacheBytes) {
         this.directory = directory;
         this.history = history;
-        this.options = DatabaseOptions.defaults().withEngine(EngineOptions.defaults()
-                .withDurability(sync ? Durability.SYNC : Durability.ASYNC).withCachedNodes(CACHED_NODES).withHistoryLimit(history));
+        this.cacheBytes = cacheBytes;
+        EngineOptions engine = EngineOptions.defaults();
+        this.cachedNodes = cacheBytes > 0 ? Math.toIntExact(cacheBytes / engine.pageSize()) : CACHED_NODES;
+        this.options = DatabaseOptions.defaults().withEngine(engine
+                .withDurability(sync ? Durability.SYNC : Durability.ASYNC).withCachedNodes(cachedNodes).withHistoryLimit(history));
         this.database = HypergraphDatabase.open(directory, options);
         database.write(writer -> {
             writer.defineNode(NODE, List.of(new PropertyDef("name", TypeTag.STRING, false, false)));
@@ -59,7 +65,8 @@ public String version() {
 
     @Override
     public String cache() {
-        return "node cache of %,d decoded nodes and retains %d generations of history".formatted(CACHED_NODES, history);
+        String budget = cacheBytes > 0 ? " (%,d MiB divided by the page size)".formatted(cacheBytes >> 20) : "";
+        return "node cache of %,d decoded nodes%s and retains %d generations of history".formatted(cachedNodes, budget, history);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/HyperGraphDbStore.java b/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/HyperGraphDbStore.java
index 1c2803d..29b675b 100644
--- a/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/HyperGraphDbStore.java
+++ b/benchmarks/src/main/java/io/hstore/bench/HyperGraphDbStore.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import com.sleepycat.je.Durability;
 import com.sleepycat.je.Environment;
+import com.sleepycat.je.EnvironmentConfig;
 import com.sleepycat.je.EnvironmentStats;
 import com.sleepycat.je.StatsConfig;
 import org.hypergraphdb.HGConfiguration;
@@ -29,12 +30,18 @@ final class HyperGraphDbStore implements Store {
     private HGPersistentHandle large;
     private long writtenBeforeReopen;
 
-    HyperGraphDbStore(Path directory, boolean sync) {
+    private final long cacheBytes;
+
+    HyperGraphDbStore(Path directory, boolean sync, long cacheBytes) {
         this.directory = directory;
+        this.cacheBytes = cacheBytes;
         configuration.setTransactional(true);
+        EnvironmentConfig environment = ((BJEStorageImplementation) configuration.getStoreImplementation()).getConfiguration().getEnvironmentConfig();
         if (sync) {
-            ((BJEStorageImplementation) configuration.getStoreImplementation()).getConfiguration()
-                    .getEnvironmentConfig().setDurability(Durability.COMMIT_SYNC);
+            environment.setDurability(Durability.COMMIT_SYNC);
+        }
+        if (cacheBytes > 0) {
+            environment.setCacheSize(cacheBytes);
         }
         this.graph = HGEnvironment.get(directory.toString(), configuration);
     }
@@ -51,7 +58,8 @@ public String version() {
 
     @Override
     public String cache() {
-        return "Berkeley DB JE cache at 30% of the heap (HyperGraphDB default) plus the HyperGraphDB atom cache";
+        String je = cacheBytes > 0 ? "Berkeley DB JE cache of %,d MiB".formatted(cacheBytes >> 20) : "Berkeley DB JE cache at 30% of the heap (HyperGraphDB default)";
+        return je + " plus the HyperGraphDB atom cache";
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/docs/benchmarks.md b/docs/benchmarks.md
index 49fa5b9..e109a7b 100644
--- a/docs/benchmarks.md
+++ b/docs/benchmarks.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ flowchart LR
 |---|---|---|
 | Version | 0.1.0 (this repository) | 1.4 at commit `99485a1`, storage `bdb-je` on Berkeley DB JE 5.0.73 |
 | Data model used | node type `Entity` (indexed by key, property `name`); `SET_EDGE` type `Relation` | `String` atoms; `HGPlainLink` links |
-| Cache | node cache of 1,048,576 decoded nodes | JE cache at 30% of the heap (HyperGraphDB default) plus the HyperGraphDB atom cache |
+| Cache | node cache of 1,048,576 decoded nodes, or `CACHE_MB` / page size | JE cache at 30% of the heap (HyperGraphDB default), or `CACHE_MB`, plus the HyperGraphDB atom cache |
 | `async` durability | `durability = async` | HyperGraphDB default: JE `WRITE_NO_SYNC` |
 | `sync` durability | `durability = sync`, `wal_mode = references`, group commit | JE `COMMIT_SYNC` |
 | History | `history_limit = 64` generations retained for time travel (default) | none |
@@ -210,3 +210,23 @@ SCALE=4 DURABILITY=async HISTORY=1 benchmarks/run.sh
 run in brackets, and "Results agree" requires every run of both stores to return the same checksum. `THREADS`
 and `HEAP` override the thread count and heap size. Close other
 workloads first: the numbers are only meaningful on an otherwise idle machine.
+
+**Equal cache budgets.** By default the two caches are not the same size. HStore caches about a million decoded
+nodes, which at 16 KiB pages is enough to hold the whole dataset. HyperGraphDB gets JE's default of 30% of the
+heap. `CACHE_MB` gives both the same budget:
+
+| HStore | HyperGraphDB |
+|---|---|
+| node cache of `CACHE_MB` / page size nodes | JE cache of exactly `CACHE_MB` |
+
+Decoded nodes can take more or less heap than their page, and HyperGraphDB's own atom and incidence caches can't
+be capped in bytes (they shrink under memory pressure). So check the retained-heap line in the report to see what
+each store actually kept. Results go to a directory ending in `-cache-<mb>`.
+
+```
+SCALE=4 CACHE_MB=64 benchmarks/run.sh   # working set several times larger than either cache
+```
+
+With a small budget, reads that miss the cache go to the files, but the operating system's page cache will
+usually still serve them from memory. Reads only really hit the disk when the data is larger than the machine's
+free RAM.