diff --git a/.changeset/olive-onions-yawn.md b/.changeset/olive-onions-yawn.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7dbed63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/olive-onions-yawn.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"watchpack": patch
+---
+
+Improve perfomance for ignored and improve perfomance for reduce plan.
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 2cbad01..594f88e 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -60,10 +60,8 @@ const watchEventSource = require("./watchEventSource");
  */
 function addWatchersToSet(watchers, set) {
 	for (const ww of watchers) {
-		const w = ww.watcher;
-		if (!set.has(w.directoryWatcher)) {
-			set.add(w.directoryWatcher);
-		}
+		// Set.add is already idempotent, so skip the redundant has() probe.
+		set.add(ww.watcher.directoryWatcher);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -79,27 +77,44 @@ const stringToRegexp = (ignored) => {
 	return `${source.slice(0, -1)}(?:$|\\/)`;
 };
 
+/**
+ * Normalizes path separators for regex testing. `String.prototype.replace`
+ * always allocates a new string, even when the pattern finds nothing; for
+ * POSIX paths (the common case) that allocation is pure overhead. Check for
+ * a backslash with `indexOf` first so we skip the copy on paths that are
+ * already normalized.
+ * @param {string} item item
+ * @returns {string} item with backslashes normalized to forward slashes
+ */
+const normalizeSeparators = (item) =>
+	item.includes("\\") ? item.replace(/\\/g, "/") : item;
+
 /**
  * @param {Ignored=} ignored ignored
  * @returns {(item: string) => boolean} ignored to function
  */
 const ignoredToFunction = (ignored) => {
 	if (Array.isArray(ignored)) {
-		const stringRegexps = ignored.map((i) => stringToRegexp(i)).filter(Boolean);
+		const stringRegexps =
+			/** @type {string[]} */
+			(ignored.map((i) => stringToRegexp(i)).filter(Boolean));
 		if (stringRegexps.length === 0) {
 			return () => false;
 		}
-		const regexp = new RegExp(stringRegexps.join("|"));
-		return (item) => regexp.test(item.replace(/\\/g, "/"));
+		const regexp =
+			stringRegexps.length === 1
+				? new RegExp(stringRegexps[0])
+				: new RegExp(stringRegexps.join("|"));
+		return (item) => regexp.test(normalizeSeparators(item));
 	} else if (typeof ignored === "string") {
 		const stringRegexp = stringToRegexp(ignored);
 		if (!stringRegexp) {
 			return () => false;
 		}
 		const regexp = new RegExp(stringRegexp);
-		return (item) => regexp.test(item.replace(/\\/g, "/"));
+		return (item) => regexp.test(normalizeSeparators(item));
 	} else if (ignored instanceof RegExp) {
-		return (item) => ignored.test(item.replace(/\\/g, "/"));
+		return (item) => ignored.test(normalizeSeparators(item));
 	} else if (typeof ignored === "function") {
 		return ignored;
 	} else if (ignored) {
@@ -463,8 +478,10 @@ class Watchpack extends EventEmitter {
 		/** @type {Record<string, number>} */
 		const obj = Object.create(null);
 		for (const w of directoryWatchers) {
+			// getTimes() returns a prototype-less object, so for...in is safe
+			// and avoids the throwaway array that Object.keys would allocate.
 			const times = w.getTimes();
-			for (const file of Object.keys(times)) obj[file] = times[file];
+			for (const file in times) obj[file] = times[file];
 		}
 		return obj;
 	}
diff --git a/lib/reducePlan.js b/lib/reducePlan.js
index a6ced7f..8e0d38b 100644
--- a/lib/reducePlan.js
+++ b/lib/reducePlan.js
@@ -67,45 +67,66 @@ module.exports = (plan, limit) => {
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	// Reduce until limit reached
-	while (currentCount > limit) {
-		// Select node that helps reaching the limit most effectively without overmerging
-		const overLimit = currentCount - limit;
-		let bestNode;
-		let bestCost = Infinity;
+	// Reduce until limit reached. When no reduction is needed at all, skip
+	// building the candidate set entirely to avoid paying for the setup on the
+	// common fast path.
+	if (currentCount > limit) {
+		// Pre-filter candidate nodes so the inner selection loop skips structural
+		// non-candidates entirely. `children` length and parent presence are
+		// fixed after tree construction; only `entries` can change (it can only
+		// decrease), so a node that fails the `entries` check in a later round
+		// is simply skipped via `continue`. When we merge a subtree we drop the
+		// descendants from the candidate set to keep it shrinking over
+		// iterations.
+		/** @type {Set<TreeNode<T>>} */
+		const candidates = new Set();
 		for (const node of treeMap.values()) {
-			if (node.entries <= 1 || !node.children || !node.parent) continue;
+			if (!node.parent || !node.children) continue;
 			if (node.children.length === 0) continue;
 			if (node.children.length === 1 && !node.value) continue;
-			// Try to select the node with has just a bit more entries than we need to reduce
-			// When just a bit more is over 30% over the limit,
-			// also consider just a bit less entries then we need to reduce
-			const cost =
-				node.entries - 1 >= overLimit
-					? node.entries - 1 - overLimit
-					: overLimit - node.entries + 1 + limit * 0.3;
-			if (cost < bestCost) {
-				bestNode = node;
-				bestCost = cost;
-			}
-		}
-		if (!bestNode) break;
-		// Merge all children
-		const reduction = bestNode.entries - 1;
-		bestNode.active = true;
-		bestNode.entries = 1;
-		currentCount -= reduction;
-		let { parent } = bestNode;
-		while (parent) {
-			parent.entries -= reduction;
-			parent = parent.parent;
+			candidates.add(node);
 		}
-		const queue = new Set(bestNode.children);
-		for (const node of queue) {
-			node.active = false;
-			node.entries = 0;
-			if (node.children) {
-				for (const child of node.children) queue.add(child);
+		const costBias = limit * 0.3;
+		while (currentCount > limit) {
+			// Select node that helps reaching the limit most effectively without overmerging
+			const overLimit = currentCount - limit;
+			let bestNode;
+			let bestCost = Infinity;
+			for (const node of candidates) {
+				if (node.entries <= 1) continue;
+				// Try to select the node with has just a bit more entries than we need to reduce
+				// When just a bit more is over 30% over the limit,
+				// also consider just a bit less entries then we need to reduce
+				const diff = node.entries - 1 - overLimit;
+				const cost = diff >= 0 ? diff : -diff + costBias;
+				if (cost < bestCost) {
+					bestNode = node;
+					bestCost = cost;
+					// A cost of 0 means the merge reduces exactly to the limit;
+					// no further candidate can improve on that, so stop scanning.
+					if (cost === 0) break;
+				}
+			}
+			if (!bestNode) break;
+			// Merge all children
+			const reduction = bestNode.entries - 1;
+			bestNode.active = true;
+			bestNode.entries = 1;
+			candidates.delete(bestNode);
+			currentCount -= reduction;
+			let { parent } = bestNode;
+			while (parent) {
+				parent.entries -= reduction;
+				parent = parent.parent;
+			}
+			const queue = new Set(bestNode.children);
+			for (const node of queue) {
+				node.active = false;
+				node.entries = 0;
+				candidates.delete(node);
+				if (node.children) {
+					for (const child of node.children) queue.add(child);
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/lib/watchEventSource.js b/lib/watchEventSource.js
index e9b3b3f..7d838a5 100644
--- a/lib/watchEventSource.js
+++ b/lib/watchEventSource.js
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ function createEPERMError(filePath) {
  * @returns {(type: "rename" | "change", filename: string) => void} handler of change event
  */
 function createHandleChangeEvent(watcher, filePath, handleChangeEvent) {
+	// path.basename(filePath) is invariant for the lifetime of the watcher,
+	// so compute it once rather than on every dispatched event.
+	const ownBasename = path.basename(filePath);
 	return (type, filename) => {
 		// TODO: After Node.js v22, fs.watch(dir) and deleting a dir will trigger the rename change event.
 		// Here we just ignore it and keep the same behavior as before v22
@@ -68,7 +71,7 @@ function createHandleChangeEvent(watcher, filePath, handleChangeEvent) {
 		if (
 			type === "rename" &&
 			path.isAbsolute(filename) &&
-			path.basename(filename) === path.basename(filePath)
+			path.basename(filename) === ownBasename
 		) {
 			if (!IS_OSX) {
 				// Before v22, windows will throw EPERM error
@@ -429,16 +432,21 @@ module.exports.watch = (filePath) => {
 		directWatcher.add(watcher);
 		return watcher;
 	}
-	let current = filePath;
-	for (;;) {
-		const recursiveWatcher = recursiveWatchers.get(current);
-		if (recursiveWatcher !== undefined) {
-			recursiveWatcher.add(filePath, watcher);
-			return watcher;
+	// Only platforms with recursive fs.watch ever populate recursiveWatchers,
+	// so skip the entire parent walk when the map is empty (always the case
+	// on Linux and the common case before the watcher limit is reached).
+	if (recursiveWatchers.size !== 0) {
+		let current = filePath;
+		for (;;) {
+			const recursiveWatcher = recursiveWatchers.get(current);
+			if (recursiveWatcher !== undefined) {
+				recursiveWatcher.add(filePath, watcher);
+				return watcher;
+			}
+			const parent = path.dirname(current);
+			if (parent === current) break;
+			current = parent;
 		}
-		const parent = path.dirname(current);
-		if (parent === current) break;
-		current = parent;
 	}
 	// Queue up watcher for creation
 	pendingWatchers.set(watcher, filePath);