diff --git a/spa/include/spa/utils/string.h b/spa/include/spa/utils/string.h
index eddffe948..31b3a5c8a 100644
--- a/spa/include/spa/utils/string.h
+++ b/spa/include/spa/utils/string.h
@@ -32,6 +32,28 @@ extern "C" {
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 
+#include <spa/utils/defs.h>
+
+/**
+ * \return true if the two strings are equal, false otherwise
+ *
+ * If both \a a and \a b are NULL, the two are considered equal.
+ */
+static inline bool spa_streq(const char *s1, const char *s2)
+{
+	return SPA_LIKELY(s1 && s2) ? strcmp(s1, s2) == 0 : s1 == s2;
+}
+
+/**
+ * \return true if the two strings are equal, false otherwise
+ *
+ * If both \a a and \a b are NULL, the two are considered equal.
+ */
+static inline bool spa_strneq(const char *s1, const char *s2, size_t len)
+{
+	return SPA_LIKELY(s1 && s2) ? strncmp(s1, s2, len) == 0 : s1 == s2;
+}
+
 /**
  * Convert \a str to an int32_t with the given \a base and store the
  * result in \a val.
diff --git a/spa/tests/test-utils.c b/spa/tests/test-utils.c
index fdf75e678..7f55ab817 100644
--- a/spa/tests/test-utils.c
+++ b/spa/tests/test-utils.c
@@ -477,6 +477,22 @@ static void test_strtol(void)
 	spa_assert(!spa_atoi32(NULL, &v, 16) && v == 0xabcd);
 }
 
+static void test_streq(void)
+{
+	spa_assert(spa_streq(NULL, NULL));
+	spa_assert(spa_streq("", ""));
+	spa_assert(spa_streq("a", "a"));
+	spa_assert(spa_streq("abc", "abc"));
+	spa_assert(!spa_streq(NULL, "abc"));
+	spa_assert(!spa_streq("abc", NULL));
+
+	spa_assert(spa_strneq("abc", "aaa", 1));
+	spa_assert(spa_strneq("abc", "abc", 7));
+	spa_assert(!spa_strneq("abc", "aaa", 2));
+	spa_assert(!spa_strneq("abc", NULL, 7));
+	spa_assert(!spa_strneq(NULL, "abc", 7));
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
     test_abi();
@@ -487,5 +503,6 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     test_hook();
     test_ringbuffer();
     test_strtol();
+    test_streq();
     return 0;
 }