diff --git a/instrumentation/benchmarks/src/main/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntimeBenchmarks.java b/instrumentation/benchmarks/src/main/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntimeBenchmarks.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..556463f7d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/instrumentation/benchmarks/src/main/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntimeBenchmarks.java
@@ -0,0 +1,289 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2015-2016 The OpenZipkin Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed 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 brave.servlet;
+
+import java.io.PrintWriter;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Locale;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream;
+import javax.servlet.http.Cookie;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Benchmark;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.BenchmarkMode;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Fork;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Group;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.GroupThreads;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Measurement;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Mode;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.OutputTimeUnit;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Warmup;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.runner.Runner;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.runner.RunnerException;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.runner.options.Options;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.runner.options.OptionsBuilder;
+
+@Measurement(iterations = 5, time = 1)
+@Warmup(iterations = 10, time = 1)
+@Fork(3)
+@BenchmarkMode(Mode.Throughput)
+@OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.MICROSECONDS)
+public class ServletRuntimeBenchmarks {
+  static final ServletRuntime servlet3 = new ServletRuntime.Servlet3();
+  static final ServletRuntime servlet25 = new ServletRuntime.Servlet25();
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("no_contention") @GroupThreads(1)
+  public int no_contention_status_servlet3() {
+    return threeStatuses(servlet3);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("mild_contention") @GroupThreads(2)
+  public int mild_contention_status_servlet3() {
+    return threeStatuses(servlet3);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("high_contention") @GroupThreads(8)
+  public int high_contention_status_servlet3() {
+    return threeStatuses(servlet3);
+  }
+
+  int threeStatuses(ServletRuntime runtime) {
+    // & to ensure null wasn't returned (forces NPE)
+    return runtime.status(new Response1()) &
+        runtime.status(new Response2()) &
+        runtime.status(new Response3());
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("no_contention") @GroupThreads(1)
+  public int no_contention_httpResponse_servlet3() {
+    return threeResponses(servlet3);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("mild_contention") @GroupThreads(2)
+  public int mild_contention_httpResponse_servlet3() {
+    return threeResponses(servlet3);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("high_contention") @GroupThreads(8)
+  public int high_contention_httpResponse_servlet3() {
+    return threeResponses(servlet3);
+  }
+
+  int threeResponses(ServletRuntime runtime) {
+    // & to ensure null wasn't returned (forces NPE)
+    return runtime.httpResponse(new Response1()).getStatus() &
+        runtime.httpResponse(new Response2()).getStatus() &
+        runtime.httpResponse(new Response3()).getStatus();
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("no_contention") @GroupThreads(1)
+  public int no_contention_status_servlet25() {
+    return threeStatuses(servlet25);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("mild_contention") @GroupThreads(2)
+  public int mild_contention_status_servlet25() {
+    return threeStatuses(servlet25);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("high_contention") @GroupThreads(8)
+  public int high_contention_status_servlet25() {
+    return threeStatuses(servlet25);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("no_contention") @GroupThreads(1)
+  public int no_contention_httpResponse_servlet25() {
+    return threeResponses(servlet25);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("mild_contention") @GroupThreads(2)
+  public int mild_contention_httpResponse_servlet25() {
+    return threeResponses(servlet25);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("high_contention") @GroupThreads(8)
+  public int high_contention_httpResponse_servlet25() {
+    return threeResponses(servlet25);
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("no_contention") @GroupThreads(1)
+  public int no_contention_status_reflection() throws Exception {
+    return threeStatusesReflection();
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("mild_contention") @GroupThreads(2)
+  public int mild_contention_status_reflection() throws Exception {
+    return threeStatusesReflection();
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark @Group("high_contention") @GroupThreads(8)
+  public int high_contention_status_reflection() throws Exception {
+    return threeStatusesReflection();
+  }
+
+  private int threeStatusesReflection() throws Exception {
+    // & to ensure null wasn't returned (forces NPE)
+    return ((int) Response1.class.getMethod("getStatus").invoke(new Response1())) &
+        ((int) Response2.class.getMethod("getStatus").invoke(new Response2())) &
+        ((int) Response3.class.getMethod("getStatus").invoke(new Response3()));
+  }
+
+  // Convenience main entry-point
+  public static void main(String[] args) throws RunnerException {
+    Options opt = new OptionsBuilder()
+        .include(".*" + ServletRuntimeBenchmarks.class.getSimpleName() + ".*")
+        .build();
+
+    new Runner(opt).run();
+  }
+
+  class Response1 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response2 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response3 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  public static class HttpServletResponseImpl implements HttpServletResponse {
+    @Override public String getCharacterEncoding() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String getContentType() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public ServletOutputStream getOutputStream() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public PrintWriter getWriter() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setCharacterEncoding(String charset) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setContentLength(int len) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setContentLengthLong(long len) {
+
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setContentType(String type) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setBufferSize(int size) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public int getBufferSize() {
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void flushBuffer() {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void resetBuffer() {
+    }
+
+    @Override public boolean isCommitted() {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void reset() {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setLocale(Locale loc) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public Locale getLocale() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addCookie(Cookie cookie) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public boolean containsHeader(String name) {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeURL(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeRedirectURL(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeUrl(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeRedirectUrl(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void sendError(int sc, String msg) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void sendError(int sc) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void sendRedirect(String location) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setDateHeader(String name, long date) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addDateHeader(String name, long date) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setHeader(String name, String value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addHeader(String name, String value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setIntHeader(String name, int value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addIntHeader(String name, int value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setStatus(int sc) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setStatus(int sc, String sm) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public int getStatus() {
+      return 200;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String getHeader(String name) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public Collection<String> getHeaders(String name) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public Collection<String> getHeaderNames() {
+      return null;
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/instrumentation/servlet/src/it/servlet25/src/test/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntime25Test.java b/instrumentation/servlet/src/it/servlet25/src/test/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntime25Test.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..48b2eb54dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/instrumentation/servlet/src/it/servlet25/src/test/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntime25Test.java
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+package brave.servlet;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintWriter;
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.util.Locale;
+import javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream;
+import javax.servlet.http.Cookie;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Response;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+/** These tests must to be run in a classpath without servlet 3.x types */
+public class ServletRuntime25Test {
+
+  @Test public void status_fromJetty() throws Exception {
+    Response jettyResponse = new Response(null);
+    Field field = Response.class.getDeclaredField("_status");
+    field.setAccessible(true);
+    field.set(jettyResponse, 400);
+    assertThat(ServletRuntime.get().status(jettyResponse))
+        .isEqualTo(400);
+  }
+
+  @Test public void httpResponse_wrapsHttpServletResponse() throws Exception {
+    assertThat(ServletRuntime.get().httpResponse(new WithoutGetStatus()))
+        .isInstanceOf(ServletRuntime.Servlet25ServerResponseAdapter.class);
+  }
+
+  @Test public void status_fromInvalidMethod() throws Exception {
+    assertThat(ServletRuntime.get().status(new WithInvalidGetStatus()))
+        .isNull();
+  }
+
+  public static class WithInvalidGetStatus extends WithoutGetStatus {
+    public String getStatus(){
+      return "foo";
+    }
+  }
+
+  // intentionally won't compile if servlet > 2.5 is present! testing handling of missing getStatus
+  public static class WithoutGetStatus implements HttpServletResponse {
+    @Override public String getCharacterEncoding() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String getContentType() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public ServletOutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public PrintWriter getWriter() throws IOException {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setCharacterEncoding(String charset) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setContentLength(int len) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setContentType(String type) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setBufferSize(int size) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public int getBufferSize() {
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void flushBuffer() throws IOException {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void resetBuffer() {
+    }
+
+    @Override public boolean isCommitted() {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void reset() {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setLocale(Locale loc) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public Locale getLocale() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addCookie(Cookie cookie) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public boolean containsHeader(String name) {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeURL(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeRedirectURL(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeUrl(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeRedirectUrl(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void sendError(int sc, String msg) throws IOException {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void sendError(int sc) throws IOException {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void sendRedirect(String location) throws IOException {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setDateHeader(String name, long date) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addDateHeader(String name, long date) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setHeader(String name, String value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addHeader(String name, String value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setIntHeader(String name, int value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addIntHeader(String name, int value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setStatus(int sc) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setStatus(int sc, String sm) {
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/instrumentation/servlet/src/main/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntime.java b/instrumentation/servlet/src/main/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntime.java
index 4293a617da..1be349ac80 100644
--- a/instrumentation/servlet/src/main/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntime.java
+++ b/instrumentation/servlet/src/main/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntime.java
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 import brave.http.HttpServerHandler;
 import brave.internal.Nullable;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import javax.servlet.AsyncContext;
 import javax.servlet.AsyncEvent;
 import javax.servlet.AsyncListener;
@@ -11,6 +15,7 @@
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponseWrapper;
+import zipkin2.Call;
 
 /**
  * Access to servlet version-specific features
@@ -55,7 +60,7 @@ private static ServletRuntime findServletRuntime() {
     return new Servlet25();
   }
 
-  private static final class Servlet3 extends ServletRuntime {
+  static final class Servlet3 extends ServletRuntime {
     @Override boolean isAsync(HttpServletRequest request) {
       return request.isAsyncStarted();
     }
@@ -112,7 +117,7 @@ static final class TracingAsyncListener implements AsyncListener {
     }
   }
 
-  private static final class Servlet25 extends ServletRuntime {
+  static final class Servlet25 extends ServletRuntime {
     @Override HttpServletResponse httpResponse(ServletResponse response) {
       return new Servlet25ServerResponseAdapter(response);
     }
@@ -126,12 +131,57 @@ private static final class Servlet25 extends ServletRuntime {
       assert false : "this should never be called in Servlet 2.5";
     }
 
+    // copy-on-write global reflection cache outperforms thread local copies
+    final AtomicReference<Map<Class<?>, Object>> classToGetStatus =
+        new AtomicReference<>(new LinkedHashMap<>());
+    static final String RETURN_NULL = "RETURN_NULL";
+
+    /**
+     * Eventhough the Servlet 2.5 version of HttpServletResponse doesn't have the getStatus method,
+     * routine servlet runtimes, do, for example {@code org.eclipse.jetty.server.Response}
+     */
     @Override @Nullable Integer status(HttpServletResponse response) {
       if (response instanceof Servlet25ServerResponseAdapter) {
         // servlet 2.5 doesn't have get status
         return ((Servlet25ServerResponseAdapter) response).getStatusInServlet25();
       }
-      return null;
+      Class<? extends HttpServletResponse> clazz = response.getClass();
+      Map<Class<?>, Object> classesToCheck = classToGetStatus.get();
+      Object getStatusMethod = classesToCheck.get(clazz);
+      if (getStatusMethod == RETURN_NULL ||
+          (getStatusMethod == null && classesToCheck.size() == 10)) { // limit size
+        return null;
+      }
+
+      // Now, we either have a cached method or we have room to cache a method
+      if (getStatusMethod == null) {
+        if (clazz.isLocalClass() || clazz.isAnonymousClass()) return null; // don't cache
+        try {
+          // we don't check for accessibility as isAccessible is deprecated: just fail later
+          getStatusMethod = clazz.getMethod("getStatus");
+          return (int) ((Method) getStatusMethod).invoke(response);
+        } catch (Throwable throwable) {
+          Call.propagateIfFatal(throwable);
+          getStatusMethod = RETURN_NULL;
+          return null;
+        } finally {
+          // regardless of success or fail, replace the cache
+          Map<Class<?>, Object> replacement = new LinkedHashMap<>(classesToCheck);
+          replacement.put(clazz, getStatusMethod);
+          classToGetStatus.set(replacement); // lost race will reset, but only up to size - 1 times
+        }
+      }
+
+      // if we are here, we have a cached method, that "should" never fail, but we check anyway
+      try {
+        return (int) ((Method) getStatusMethod).invoke(response);
+      } catch (Throwable throwable) {
+        Call.propagateIfFatal(throwable);
+        Map<Class<?>, Object> replacement = new LinkedHashMap<>(classesToCheck);
+        replacement.put(clazz, RETURN_NULL);
+        classToGetStatus.set(replacement); // prefer overriding on failure
+        return null;
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/instrumentation/servlet/src/test/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntimeTest.java b/instrumentation/servlet/src/test/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntimeTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e236bd2e3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/instrumentation/servlet/src/test/java/brave/servlet/ServletRuntimeTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,231 @@
+package brave.servlet;
+
+import java.io.PrintWriter;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Locale;
+import javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream;
+import javax.servlet.http.Cookie;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Response;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+public class ServletRuntimeTest {
+  ServletRuntime servlet25 = new ServletRuntime.Servlet25();
+
+  @Test public void servlet25_status_doesntParseAnonymousTypes() throws Exception {
+    // while looks nice, this will overflow our cache
+    Response jettyResponse = new Response(null) {
+      @Override public int getStatus() {
+        throw new AssertionError();
+      }
+    };
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(jettyResponse))
+        .isNull();
+  }
+
+  @Test public void servlet25_status_doesntParseLocalTypes() throws Exception {
+    // while looks nice, this will overflow our cache
+    class LocalResponse extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+    }
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new LocalResponse()))
+        .isNull();
+  }
+
+  class ExceptionResponse extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+    @Override public int getStatus() {
+      throw new IllegalStateException("foo");
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test public void servlet25_status_nullOnException() throws Exception {
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new ExceptionResponse()))
+        .isNull();
+  }
+
+  class Response1 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response2 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response3 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response4 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response5 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response6 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response7 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response8 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response9 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response10 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  class Response11 extends HttpServletResponseImpl {
+  }
+
+  @Test public void servlet25_status_cachesUpToTenTypes() throws Exception {
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response1()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response2()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response3()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response4()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response5()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response6()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response7()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response8()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response9()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response10()))
+        .isEqualTo(200);
+    assertThat(servlet25.status(new Response11()))
+        .isNull();
+  }
+
+  public static class HttpServletResponseImpl implements HttpServletResponse {
+    @Override public String getCharacterEncoding() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String getContentType() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public ServletOutputStream getOutputStream() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public PrintWriter getWriter() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setCharacterEncoding(String charset) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setContentLength(int len) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setContentType(String type) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setBufferSize(int size) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public int getBufferSize() {
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void flushBuffer() {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void resetBuffer() {
+    }
+
+    @Override public boolean isCommitted() {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void reset() {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setLocale(Locale loc) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public Locale getLocale() {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addCookie(Cookie cookie) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public boolean containsHeader(String name) {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeURL(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeRedirectURL(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeUrl(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String encodeRedirectUrl(String url) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public void sendError(int sc, String msg) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void sendError(int sc) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void sendRedirect(String location) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setDateHeader(String name, long date) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addDateHeader(String name, long date) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setHeader(String name, String value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addHeader(String name, String value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setIntHeader(String name, int value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void addIntHeader(String name, int value) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setStatus(int sc) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public void setStatus(int sc, String sm) {
+    }
+
+    @Override public int getStatus() {
+      return 200;
+    }
+
+    @Override public String getHeader(String name) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public Collection<String> getHeaders(String name) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override public Collection<String> getHeaderNames() {
+      return null;
+    }
+  }
+}