diff --git a/actix-router/Cargo.toml b/actix-router/Cargo.toml
index bd0da7589..79218f364 100644
--- a/actix-router/Cargo.toml
+++ b/actix-router/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ unicode = ["dep:regex"]
 
 [dependencies]
 bytestring = ">=0.1.5, <2"
+cfg-if = "1"
 http = { version = "0.2.7", optional = true }
 regex = { version = "1.5", optional = true }
 regex-lite = "0.1"
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@ percent-encoding = "2.1"
 [[bench]]
 name = "router"
 harness = false
+required-features = ["unicode"]
 
 [[bench]]
 name = "quoter"
diff --git a/actix-router/src/lib.rs b/actix-router/src/lib.rs
index f10093436..c4d0d2c87 100644
--- a/actix-router/src/lib.rs
+++ b/actix-router/src/lib.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ mod de;
 mod path;
 mod pattern;
 mod quoter;
+mod regex_set;
 mod resource;
 mod resource_path;
 mod router;
diff --git a/actix-router/src/regex_set.rs b/actix-router/src/regex_set.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fe93c1d20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actix-router/src/regex_set.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+//! Abstraction over `regex` and `regex-lite` depending on whether we have `unicode` crate feature
+//! enabled.
+
+use cfg_if::cfg_if;
+#[cfg(feature = "unicode")]
+pub(crate) use regex::{escape, Regex};
+#[cfg(not(feature = "unicode"))]
+pub(crate) use regex_lite::{escape, Regex};
+
+#[cfg(feature = "unicode")]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub(crate) struct RegexSet(regex::RegexSet);
+
+#[cfg(not(feature = "unicode"))]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub(crate) struct RegexSet(Vec<regex_lite::Regex>);
+
+impl RegexSet {
+    /// Create a new regex set.
+    ///
+    /// # Panics
+    ///
+    /// Panics if any path patterns are malformed.
+    pub(crate) fn new(re_set: Vec<String>) -> Self {
+        cfg_if! {
+            if #[cfg(feature = "unicode")] {
+                Self(regex::RegexSet::new(re_set).unwrap())
+            } else {
+                Self(re_set.iter().map(|re| Regex::new(re).unwrap()).collect())
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Create a new empty regex set.
+    pub(crate) fn empty() -> Self {
+        cfg_if! {
+            if #[cfg(feature = "unicode")] {
+                Self(regex::RegexSet::empty())
+            } else {
+                Self(Vec::new())
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub(crate) fn is_match(&self, path: &str) -> bool {
+        cfg_if! {
+            if #[cfg(feature = "unicode")] {
+                self.0.is_match(path)
+            } else {
+                self.0.iter().any(|re| re.is_match(path))
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub(crate) fn first_match_idx(&self, path: &str) -> Option<usize> {
+        cfg_if! {
+            if #[cfg(feature = "unicode")] {
+                self.0.matches(path).into_iter().next()
+            } else {
+                Some(self.0.iter().enumerate().find(|(_, re)| re.is_match(path))?.0)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/actix-router/src/resource.rs b/actix-router/src/resource.rs
index 797b0eb20..3a102945b 100644
--- a/actix-router/src/resource.rs
+++ b/actix-router/src/resource.rs
@@ -5,13 +5,13 @@ use std::{
     mem,
 };
 
-#[cfg(feature = "unicode")]
-use regex::{escape, Regex};
-#[cfg(not(feature = "unicode"))]
-use regex_lite::{escape, Regex};
 use tracing::error;
 
-use crate::{path::PathItem, IntoPatterns, Patterns, Resource, ResourcePath};
+use crate::{
+    path::PathItem,
+    regex_set::{escape, Regex, RegexSet},
+    IntoPatterns, Patterns, Resource, ResourcePath,
+};
 
 const MAX_DYNAMIC_SEGMENTS: usize = 16;
 
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ enum PatternSegment {
     Var(String),
 }
 
-#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 #[allow(clippy::large_enum_variant)]
 enum PatternType {
     /// Single constant/literal segment.
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ enum PatternType {
     Dynamic(Regex, Vec<&'static str>),
 
     /// Regular expression set and list of component expressions plus dynamic segment names.
-    DynamicSet(Vec<Regex>, Vec<(Regex, Vec<&'static str>)>),
+    DynamicSet(RegexSet, Vec<(Regex, Vec<&'static str>)>),
 }
 
 impl ResourceDef {
@@ -560,7 +560,7 @@ impl ResourceDef {
         match &self.pat_type {
             PatternType::Static(pattern) => self.static_match(pattern, path).is_some(),
             PatternType::Dynamic(re, _) => re.is_match(path),
-            PatternType::DynamicSet(re, _) => re.iter().any(|re| re.is_match(path)),
+            PatternType::DynamicSet(re, _) => re.is_match(path),
         }
     }
 
@@ -606,7 +606,7 @@ impl ResourceDef {
             PatternType::Dynamic(re, _) => Some(re.captures(path)?[1].len()),
 
             PatternType::DynamicSet(re, params) => {
-                let idx = re.iter().enumerate().find(|(_, re)| re.is_match(path))?.0;
+                let idx = re.first_match_idx(path)?;
                 let (ref pattern, _) = params[idx];
                 Some(pattern.captures(path)?[1].len())
             }
@@ -709,9 +709,8 @@ impl ResourceDef {
 
             PatternType::DynamicSet(re, params) => {
                 let path = path.unprocessed();
-                let (pattern, names) = match re.iter().enumerate().find(|(_, re)| re.is_match(path))
-                {
-                    Some((idx, _)) => &params[idx],
+                let (pattern, names) = match re.first_match_idx(path) {
+                    Some(idx) => &params[idx],
                     _ => return false,
                 };
 
@@ -853,9 +852,10 @@ impl ResourceDef {
 
             // since zero length pattern sets are possible
             // just return a useless `ResourceDef`
-            Patterns::List(patterns) if patterns.is_empty() => {
-                (PatternType::DynamicSet(Vec::new(), Vec::new()), Vec::new())
-            }
+            Patterns::List(patterns) if patterns.is_empty() => (
+                PatternType::DynamicSet(RegexSet::empty(), Vec::new()),
+                Vec::new(),
+            ),
 
             Patterns::List(patterns) => {
                 let mut re_set = Vec::with_capacity(patterns.len());
@@ -873,7 +873,7 @@ impl ResourceDef {
                     }
                 }
 
-                let pattern_re_set = re_set.iter().map(|re| Regex::new(re).unwrap()).collect();
+                let pattern_re_set = RegexSet::new(re_set);
                 let segments = segments.unwrap_or_default();
 
                 (