diff --git a/pgtype.go b/pgtype.go
index af8d8661..32c6da5a 100644
--- a/pgtype.go
+++ b/pgtype.go
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ package pgtype
 
 import (
 	"database/sql"
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"math"
 	"net"
 	"reflect"
 	"time"
@@ -472,76 +474,93 @@ func (ci *ConnInfo) DeepCopy() *ConnInfo {
 	return ci2
 }
 
-func (ci *ConnInfo) Scan(oid uint32, formatCode int16, buf []byte, dest interface{}) error {
+// ScanPlan is a precompiled plan to scan into a particular destination. This requires care to use as it always scans
+// to the same destination.
+//
+// This is a very low-level optimization. It should only be used to implement a PostgreSQL driver or custom type.
+type ScanPlan interface {
+	// Scan scans src into dst. All parameters except src MUST be the same as were passed to PlanScan when this was
+	// created.
+	Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error
+}
+
+type scanPlanDstBinaryDecoder struct {
+	d BinaryDecoder
+}
+
+func (plan scanPlanDstBinaryDecoder) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	return plan.d.DecodeBinary(ci, src)
+}
+
+type scanPlanDstTextDecoder struct {
+	d TextDecoder
+}
+
+func (plan scanPlanDstTextDecoder) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	return plan.d.DecodeText(ci, src)
+}
+
+type scanPlanDataTypeSQLScanner DataType
+
+func (plan *scanPlanDataTypeSQLScanner) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	dt := (*DataType)(plan)
+	var err error
 	switch formatCode {
 	case BinaryFormatCode:
-		if dest, ok := dest.(BinaryDecoder); ok {
-			return dest.DecodeBinary(ci, buf)
-		}
+		err = dt.binaryDecoder.DecodeBinary(ci, src)
 	case TextFormatCode:
-		if dest, ok := dest.(TextDecoder); ok {
-			return dest.DecodeText(ci, buf)
-		}
-	default:
-		return errors.Errorf("unknown format code: %v", formatCode)
+		err = dt.textDecoder.DecodeText(ci, src)
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
 
-	var dt *DataType
+	scanner := dst.(sql.Scanner)
+	sqlSrc, err := DatabaseSQLValue(ci, dt.Value)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return scanner.Scan(sqlSrc)
+}
 
-	if oid == 0 {
-		if dataType, ok := ci.DataTypeForValue(dest); ok {
-			dt = dataType
-		}
+type scanPlanDataTypeAssignTo DataType
+
+func (plan *scanPlanDataTypeAssignTo) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	dt := (*DataType)(plan)
+	var err error
+	switch formatCode {
+	case BinaryFormatCode:
+		err = dt.binaryDecoder.DecodeBinary(ci, src)
+	case TextFormatCode:
+		err = dt.textDecoder.DecodeText(ci, src)
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return dt.Value.AssignTo(dst)
+}
+
+type scanPlanSQLScanner struct{}
+
+func (scanPlanSQLScanner) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	scanner := dst.(sql.Scanner)
+	if formatCode == BinaryFormatCode {
+		return scanner.Scan(src)
 	} else {
-		if dataType, ok := ci.DataTypeForOID(oid); ok {
-			dt = dataType
-		}
+		return scanner.Scan(string(src))
 	}
+}
 
-	if dt != nil {
-		switch formatCode {
-		case BinaryFormatCode:
-			if dt.binaryDecoder != nil {
-				err := dt.binaryDecoder.DecodeBinary(ci, buf)
-				if err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
-			} else {
-				return errors.Errorf("%T is not a pgtype.BinaryDecoder", dt.Value)
-			}
-		case TextFormatCode:
-			if dt.textDecoder != nil {
-				err := dt.textDecoder.DecodeText(ci, buf)
-				if err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
-			} else {
-				return errors.Errorf("%T is not a pgtype.TextDecoder", dt.Value)
-			}
-		}
-
-		assignToErr := dt.Value.AssignTo(dest)
-		if assignToErr == nil {
-			return nil
-		}
-
-		if scanner, ok := dest.(sql.Scanner); ok {
-			sqlSrc, err := DatabaseSQLValue(ci, dt.Value)
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-			return scanner.Scan(sqlSrc)
-		}
-
-		return assignToErr
-	}
+type scanPlanReflection struct{}
 
+func (scanPlanReflection) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
 	// We might be given a pointer to something that implements the decoder interface(s),
 	// even though the pointer itself doesn't.
-	refVal := reflect.ValueOf(dest)
+	refVal := reflect.ValueOf(dst)
 	if refVal.Kind() == reflect.Ptr && refVal.Type().Elem().Kind() == reflect.Ptr {
 		// If the database returned NULL, then we set dest as nil to indicate that.
-		if buf == nil {
+		if src == nil {
 			nilPtr := reflect.Zero(refVal.Type().Elem())
 			refVal.Elem().Set(nilPtr)
 			return nil
@@ -551,10 +570,185 @@ func (ci *ConnInfo) Scan(oid uint32, formatCode int16, buf []byte, dest interfac
 		// Then we can retry as that element.
 		elemPtr := reflect.New(refVal.Type().Elem().Elem())
 		refVal.Elem().Set(elemPtr)
-		return ci.Scan(oid, formatCode, buf, elemPtr.Interface())
+
+		plan := ci.PlanScan(oid, formatCode, src, elemPtr.Interface())
+		return plan.Scan(ci, oid, formatCode, src, elemPtr.Interface())
 	}
 
-	return scanUnknownType(oid, formatCode, buf, dest)
+	return scanUnknownType(oid, formatCode, src, dst)
+}
+
+type scanPlanBinaryInt16 int16
+
+func (plan *scanPlanBinaryInt16) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	if src == nil {
+		return errors.Errorf("cannot scan null into %T", dst)
+	}
+
+	if len(src) != 2 {
+		return errors.Errorf("invalid length for int2: %v", len(src))
+	}
+
+	*plan = scanPlanBinaryInt16(binary.BigEndian.Uint16(src))
+	return nil
+}
+
+type scanPlanBinaryInt32 int32
+
+func (plan *scanPlanBinaryInt32) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	if src == nil {
+		return errors.Errorf("cannot scan null into %T", dst)
+	}
+
+	if len(src) != 4 {
+		return errors.Errorf("invalid length for int4: %v", len(src))
+	}
+
+	*plan = scanPlanBinaryInt32(binary.BigEndian.Uint32(src))
+	return nil
+}
+
+type scanPlanBinaryInt64 int64
+
+func (plan *scanPlanBinaryInt64) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	if src == nil {
+		return errors.Errorf("cannot scan null into %T", dst)
+	}
+
+	if len(src) != 8 {
+		return errors.Errorf("invalid length for int8: %v", len(src))
+	}
+
+	*plan = scanPlanBinaryInt64(binary.BigEndian.Uint64(src))
+	return nil
+}
+
+type scanPlanBinaryFloat32 float32
+
+func (plan *scanPlanBinaryFloat32) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	if src == nil {
+		return errors.Errorf("cannot scan null into %T", dst)
+	}
+
+	if len(src) != 4 {
+		return errors.Errorf("invalid length for int4: %v", len(src))
+	}
+
+	n := int32(binary.BigEndian.Uint32(src))
+	*plan = scanPlanBinaryFloat32(math.Float32frombits(uint32(n)))
+	return nil
+}
+
+type scanPlanBinaryFloat64 float64
+
+func (plan *scanPlanBinaryFloat64) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	if src == nil {
+		return errors.Errorf("cannot scan null into %T", dst)
+	}
+
+	if len(src) != 8 {
+		return errors.Errorf("invalid length for int8: %v", len(src))
+	}
+
+	n := int64(binary.BigEndian.Uint64(src))
+	*plan = scanPlanBinaryFloat64(math.Float64frombits(uint64(n)))
+	return nil
+}
+
+type scanPlanBinaryBytes []byte
+
+func (plan *scanPlanBinaryBytes) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	*plan = scanPlanBinaryBytes(src)
+	return nil
+}
+
+type scanPlanString string
+
+func (plan *scanPlanString) Scan(ci *ConnInfo, oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	if src == nil {
+		return errors.Errorf("cannot scan null into %T", dst)
+	}
+
+	*plan = scanPlanString(src)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// PlanScan prepares a plan to scan a value into dst.
+func (ci *ConnInfo) PlanScan(oid uint32, formatCode int16, buf []byte, dst interface{}) ScanPlan {
+	switch formatCode {
+	case BinaryFormatCode:
+		switch d := dst.(type) {
+		case *string:
+			switch oid {
+			case TextOID, VarcharOID:
+				return (*scanPlanString)(d)
+			}
+		case *int16:
+			if oid == Int2OID {
+				return (*scanPlanBinaryInt16)(d)
+			}
+		case *int32:
+			if oid == Int4OID {
+				return (*scanPlanBinaryInt32)(d)
+			}
+		case *int64:
+			if oid == Int8OID {
+				return (*scanPlanBinaryInt64)(d)
+			}
+		case *float32:
+			if oid == Float4OID {
+				return (*scanPlanBinaryFloat32)(d)
+			}
+		case *float64:
+			if oid == Float8OID {
+				return (*scanPlanBinaryFloat64)(d)
+			}
+		case *[]byte:
+			switch oid {
+			case ByteaOID, TextOID, VarcharOID:
+				return (*scanPlanBinaryBytes)(d)
+			}
+		case BinaryDecoder:
+			return scanPlanDstBinaryDecoder{d: d}
+		}
+	case TextFormatCode:
+		switch d := dst.(type) {
+		case *string:
+			return (*scanPlanString)(d)
+		case TextDecoder:
+			return scanPlanDstTextDecoder{d: d}
+		}
+	}
+
+	var dt *DataType
+
+	if oid == 0 {
+		if dataType, ok := ci.DataTypeForValue(dst); ok {
+			dt = dataType
+		}
+	} else {
+		if dataType, ok := ci.DataTypeForOID(oid); ok {
+			dt = dataType
+		}
+	}
+
+	if dt != nil {
+		if _, ok := dst.(sql.Scanner); ok {
+			return (*scanPlanDataTypeSQLScanner)(dt)
+		}
+		return (*scanPlanDataTypeAssignTo)(dt)
+	}
+
+	if _, ok := dst.(sql.Scanner); ok {
+		return scanPlanSQLScanner{}
+	}
+
+	return scanPlanReflection{}
+}
+
+func (ci *ConnInfo) Scan(oid uint32, formatCode int16, src []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	plan := ci.PlanScan(oid, formatCode, src, dst)
+	return plan.Scan(ci, oid, formatCode, src, dst)
 }
 
 func scanUnknownType(oid uint32, formatCode int16, buf []byte, dest interface{}) error {
diff --git a/pgtype_test.go b/pgtype_test.go
index 664c5394..45b1b64d 100644
--- a/pgtype_test.go
+++ b/pgtype_test.go
@@ -170,3 +170,41 @@ func BenchmarkConnInfoScanInt4IntoGoInt32(b *testing.B) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func BenchmarkScanPlanScanInt4IntoBinaryDecoder(b *testing.B) {
+	ci := pgtype.NewConnInfo()
+	src := []byte{0, 0, 0, 42}
+	var v pgtype.Int4
+
+	plan := ci.PlanScan(pgtype.Int4OID, pgtype.BinaryFormatCode, src, &v)
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		v = pgtype.Int4{}
+		err := plan.Scan(ci, pgtype.Int4OID, pgtype.BinaryFormatCode, src, &v)
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if v != (pgtype.Int4{Int: 42, Status: pgtype.Present}) {
+			b.Fatal("scan failed due to bad value")
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkScanPlanScanInt4IntoGoInt32(b *testing.B) {
+	ci := pgtype.NewConnInfo()
+	src := []byte{0, 0, 0, 42}
+	var v int32
+
+	plan := ci.PlanScan(pgtype.Int4OID, pgtype.BinaryFormatCode, src, &v)
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		v = 0
+		err := plan.Scan(ci, pgtype.Int4OID, pgtype.BinaryFormatCode, src, &v)
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if v != 42 {
+			b.Fatal("scan failed due to bad value")
+		}
+	}
+}