diff --git a/src/aiida/storage/sqlite_zip/utils.py b/src/aiida/storage/sqlite_zip/utils.py
index 2027685fd..c2a2a0ace 100644
--- a/src/aiida/storage/sqlite_zip/utils.py
+++ b/src/aiida/storage/sqlite_zip/utils.py
@@ -49,79 +49,31 @@ def sqlite_case_sensitive_like(dbapi_connection, _):
     cursor.close()
 
 
-# def _contains(lhs: Union[dict, list], rhs: Union[dict, list]):
-#     if isinstance(lhs, dict) and isinstance(rhs, dict):
-#         for key in rhs:
-#             if key not in lhs or not _contains(lhs[key], rhs[key]):
-#                 return False
-#         return True
-#     elif isinstance(lhs, list) and isinstance(rhs, list):
-#         for item in rhs:
-#             if not any(_contains(element, item) for element in lhs):
-#                 return False
-#         return True
-#     else:
-#         return lhs == rhs
-
-
-# def _json_contains(lhs: Union[str, bytes, bytearray, dict, list], rhs: Union[str, bytes, bytearray, dict, list]):
-#     try:
-#         if isinstance(lhs, (str, bytes, bytearray)):
-#             lhs = json.loads(lhs)
-#         if isinstance(rhs, (str, bytes, bytearray)):
-#             rhs = json.loads(rhs)
-#     except json.JSONDecodeError:
-#         return 0
-#     return int(_contains(lhs, rhs))
-
-def _json_contains(lhs: Union[str, bytes, bytearray, dict, list],
-                   rhs: Union[str, bytes, bytearray, dict, list]) -> int:
-    if isinstance(lhs, (str, bytes, bytearray)):
-        try:
-            lhs = json.loads(lhs)
-        except json.JSONDecodeError:
-            return 0
-    if isinstance(rhs, (str, bytes, bytearray)):
-        try:
-            rhs = json.loads(rhs)
-        except json.JSONDecodeError:
-            return 0
-
-    stack = deque()
-    stack.append((lhs, rhs))
-    while stack.count() > 0:
-        l, r = stack.popleft()
-        if isinstance(l, dict):
-            if not isinstance(r, dict):
-                return 0
-            for key, value in r.items():
-                if key not in l: return 0
-                stack.append((l[key], value))
-        elif isinstance(l, list):
-            if not isinstance(r, list):
-                return 0
-            lp, lo = set(), []
-            for e in l:
-                if isinstance(e, (dict, list)):
-                    lo.append(e)
-                else:
-                    lp.add(e)
-            rp, ro = set(), []
-            for e in r:
-                if isinstance(e, (dict, list)):
-                    ro.append(e)
-                else:
-                    rp.add(e)
-            if not lp.issuperset(rp):
-                return 0
-            for le in lo:
-                for re in ro:
-                    stack.append((le, re))
-        else:
-            return int(l == r)
-    return 1
+def _contains(lhs: Union[dict, list], rhs: Union[dict, list]):
+    if isinstance(lhs, dict) and isinstance(rhs, dict):
+        for key in rhs:
+            if key not in lhs or not _contains(lhs[key], rhs[key]):
+                return False
+        return True
+
+    elif isinstance(lhs, list) and isinstance(rhs, list):
+        for item in rhs:
+            if not any(_contains(e, item) for e in lhs):
+                return False
+        return True
+    else:
+        return lhs == rhs
 
 
+def _json_contains(lhs: Union[str, bytes, bytearray, dict, list], rhs: Union[str, bytes, bytearray, dict, list]):
+    try:
+        if isinstance(lhs, (str, bytes, bytearray)):
+            lhs = json.loads(lhs)
+        if isinstance(rhs, (str, bytes, bytearray)):
+            rhs = json.loads(rhs)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        return 0
+    return int(_contains(lhs, rhs))
 
 
 def register_json_contains(dbapi_connection, _):
diff --git a/tests/benchmark/test_json_contains.py b/tests/benchmark/test_json_contains.py
index 4d6f0e200..40afd515b 100644
--- a/tests/benchmark/test_json_contains.py
+++ b/tests/benchmark/test_json_contains.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-import functools
-
 import pytest
 import random
 import string
@@ -56,10 +54,33 @@ def extract_component(data, p: float = -1):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.benchmark(group=GROUP_NAME)
-@pytest.mark.parametrize('depth', COMPLEX_JSON_DEPTH_RANGE)
-@pytest.mark.parametrize('breadth', COMPLEX_JSON_BREADTH_RANGE)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('depth', [1, 2, 4, 8])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('breadth', [1, 2, 4])
+@pytest.mark.usefixtures('aiida_profile_clean')
+def test_deep_json(benchmark, depth, breadth):
+    lhs = gen_json(depth, breadth)
+    rhs = extract_component(lhs, p=1./depth)
+    assert 0 == len(QueryBuilder().append(orm.Dict).all())
+
+    orm.Dict({
+        'id': f'{depth}-{breadth}',
+        'data': lhs,
+    }).store()
+    qb = QueryBuilder().append(orm.Dict, filters={
+        'attributes.data': {'contains': rhs},
+    }, project=[
+        'attributes.id'
+    ])
+    qb.all()
+    result = benchmark(qb.all)
+    assert len(result) == 1
+
+
+@pytest.mark.benchmark(group=GROUP_NAME)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('depth', [2])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('breadth', [1, 10, 100])
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures('aiida_profile_clean')
-def test_complex_json(benchmark, depth, breadth):
+def test_wide_json(benchmark, depth, breadth):
     lhs = gen_json(depth, breadth)
     rhs = extract_component(lhs, p=1./depth)
     assert 0 == len(QueryBuilder().append(orm.Dict).all())