diff --git a/benchmark/esm/cjs-parse.js b/benchmark/esm/cjs-parse.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 13516a93133290..00000000000000
--- a/benchmark/esm/cjs-parse.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-'use strict';
-const fs = require('fs');
-const path = require('path');
-const common = require('../common.js');
-const { strictEqual } = require('assert');
-
-const tmpdir = require('../../test/common/tmpdir');
-const benchmarkDirectory = tmpdir.resolve('benchmark-esm-parse');
-
-const bench = common.createBenchmark(main, {
-  n: [1e2],
-});
-
-async function main({ n }) {
-  tmpdir.refresh();
-
-  fs.mkdirSync(benchmarkDirectory);
-
-  let sampleSource = 'try {\n';
-  for (let i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
-    sampleSource += 'sample.js(() => file = /test/);\n';
-  }
-  sampleSource += '} catch {}\nexports.p = 5;\n';
-
-  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
-    const sampleFile = path.join(benchmarkDirectory, `sample${i}.js`);
-    fs.writeFileSync(sampleFile, sampleSource);
-  }
-
-  bench.start();
-  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
-    const sampleFile = path.join(benchmarkDirectory, `sample${i}.js`);
-    const m = await import('file:' + sampleFile);
-    strictEqual(m.p, 5);
-  }
-  bench.end(n);
-
-  tmpdir.refresh();
-}
diff --git a/benchmark/esm/import-cjs.js b/benchmark/esm/import-cjs.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e3d4e19e476e12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark/esm/import-cjs.js
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common.js');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const tmpdir = require('../../test/common/tmpdir');
+const fixtures = require('../../test/common/fixtures.js');
+const fs = require('fs');
+
+// This fixture has 2000+ exports.
+const fixtureFile = fixtures.path('snapshot', 'typescript.js');
+// This is fixed - typescript.js is slow to load, so 10 is enough.
+// And we want to measure either 10 warm loads, or 1 cold load (but compare.js would run it many times)
+const runs = 10;
+const bench = common.createBenchmark(main, {
+  type: ['cold', 'warm'],
+}, {
+  setup() {
+    tmpdir.refresh();
+    fs.cpSync(fixtureFile, tmpdir.resolve(`imported-cjs-initial.js`));
+    for (let i = 0; i < runs; i++) {
+      fs.cpSync(fixtureFile, tmpdir.resolve(`imported-cjs-${i}.js`));
+    }
+  },
+});
+
+async function main({ type }) {
+  if (type === 'cold') {
+    bench.start();
+    await import(tmpdir.fileURL(`imported-cjs-initial.js`));
+    bench.end(1);
+  } else {
+    await import(tmpdir.fileURL(`imported-cjs-initial.js`));  // Initialize the wasm first.
+    bench.start();
+    let result;
+    for (let i = 0; i < runs; i++) {
+      result = await import(tmpdir.fileURL(`imported-cjs-${i}.js`));
+    }
+    bench.end(runs);
+    const mod = require(fixtures.path('snapshot', 'typescript.js'));
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(Object.keys(mod), Object.keys(result.default));
+  }
+}
diff --git a/lib/internal/modules/esm/translators.js b/lib/internal/modules/esm/translators.js
index 1716328c7a9899..2264390ea1faff 100644
--- a/lib/internal/modules/esm/translators.js
+++ b/lib/internal/modules/esm/translators.js
@@ -74,12 +74,17 @@ function getSource(url) {
 let cjsParse;
 /**
  * Initializes the CommonJS module lexer parser using the JavaScript version.
- * TODO(joyeecheung): Use `require('internal/deps/cjs-module-lexer/dist/lexer').initSync()`
- * when cjs-module-lexer 1.4.0 is rolled in.
  */
 function initCJSParseSync() {
   if (cjsParse === undefined) {
-    cjsParse = require('internal/deps/cjs-module-lexer/lexer').parse;
+    if (typeof WebAssembly !== 'undefined') {
+      const { parse, initSync } = require('internal/deps/cjs-module-lexer/dist/lexer');
+      initSync();
+      cjsParse = parse;
+    } else {
+      const { parse } = require('internal/deps/cjs-module-lexer/lexer');
+      cjsParse = parse;
+    }
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/test/es-module/test-import-cjs-jitless.mjs b/test/es-module/test-import-cjs-jitless.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..39f10491fa28f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/es-module/test-import-cjs-jitless.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// Flags: --jitless
+
+// Tests that importing a CJS module works in JIT-less mode (i.e. falling back to the
+// JS parser if WASM is not available).
+import '../common/index.mjs';
+import '../fixtures/empty.cjs';