diff --git a/news/8905.feature b/news/8905.feature
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5d27d40c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/8905.feature
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Cache package listings on index packages so they are guarenteed to stay stable
+during a pip command session. This also improves performance when a index page
+is accessed multiple times during the command session.
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/index/collector.py b/src/pip/_internal/index/collector.py
index 6c35fc660..ef2100f89 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/index/collector.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/index/collector.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from pip._internal.exceptions import NetworkConnectionError
 from pip._internal.models.link import Link
 from pip._internal.models.search_scope import SearchScope
 from pip._internal.network.utils import raise_for_status
+from pip._internal.utils.compat import lru_cache
 from pip._internal.utils.filetypes import ARCHIVE_EXTENSIONS
 from pip._internal.utils.misc import pairwise, redact_auth_from_url
 from pip._internal.utils.typing import MYPY_CHECK_RUNNING
@@ -30,8 +31,14 @@ from pip._internal.vcs import is_url, vcs
 if MYPY_CHECK_RUNNING:
     from optparse import Values
     from typing import (
-        Callable, Iterable, List, MutableMapping, Optional,
-        Protocol, Sequence, Tuple, TypeVar, Union,
+        Callable,
+        Iterable,
+        List,
+        MutableMapping,
+        Optional,
+        Sequence,
+        Tuple,
+        Union,
     )
     import xml.etree.ElementTree
 
@@ -42,31 +49,10 @@ if MYPY_CHECK_RUNNING:
     HTMLElement = xml.etree.ElementTree.Element
     ResponseHeaders = MutableMapping[str, str]
 
-    # Used in the @lru_cache polyfill.
-    F = TypeVar('F')
-
-    class LruCache(Protocol):
-        def __call__(self, maxsize=None):
-            # type: (Optional[int]) -> Callable[[F], F]
-            raise NotImplementedError
-
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-# Fallback to noop_lru_cache in Python 2
-# TODO: this can be removed when python 2 support is dropped!
-def noop_lru_cache(maxsize=None):
-    # type: (Optional[int]) -> Callable[[F], F]
-    def _wrapper(f):
-        # type: (F) -> F
-        return f
-    return _wrapper
-
-
-_lru_cache = getattr(functools, "lru_cache", noop_lru_cache)  # type: LruCache
-
-
 def _match_vcs_scheme(url):
     # type: (str) -> Optional[str]
     """Look for VCS schemes in the URL.
@@ -336,7 +322,7 @@ def with_cached_html_pages(
     `page` has `page.cache_link_parsing == False`.
     """
 
-    @_lru_cache(maxsize=None)
+    @lru_cache(maxsize=None)
     def wrapper(cacheable_page):
         # type: (CacheablePageContent) -> List[Link]
         return list(fn(cacheable_page.page))
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/index/package_finder.py b/src/pip/_internal/index/package_finder.py
index 84115783a..8ceccee6c 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/index/package_finder.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/index/package_finder.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ from pip._internal.models.link import Link
 from pip._internal.models.selection_prefs import SelectionPreferences
 from pip._internal.models.target_python import TargetPython
 from pip._internal.models.wheel import Wheel
+from pip._internal.utils.compat import lru_cache
 from pip._internal.utils.filetypes import WHEEL_EXTENSION
 from pip._internal.utils.logging import indent_log
 from pip._internal.utils.misc import build_netloc
@@ -801,6 +802,7 @@ class PackageFinder(object):
 
         return package_links
 
+    @lru_cache(maxsize=None)
     def find_all_candidates(self, project_name):
         # type: (str) -> List[InstallationCandidate]
         """Find all available InstallationCandidate for project_name
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/utils/compat.py b/src/pip/_internal/utils/compat.py
index 89c5169af..9a2bb7800 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/utils/compat.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/utils/compat.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ distributions."""
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division
 
 import codecs
+import functools
 import locale
 import logging
 import os
@@ -18,7 +19,15 @@ from pip._vendor.six import PY2, text_type
 from pip._internal.utils.typing import MYPY_CHECK_RUNNING
 
 if MYPY_CHECK_RUNNING:
-    from typing import Optional, Text, Tuple, Union
+    from typing import Callable, Optional, Protocol, Text, Tuple, TypeVar, Union
+
+    # Used in the @lru_cache polyfill.
+    F = TypeVar('F')
+
+    class LruCache(Protocol):
+        def __call__(self, maxsize=None):
+            # type: (Optional[int]) -> Callable[[F], F]
+            raise NotImplementedError
 
 try:
     import ipaddress
@@ -269,3 +278,16 @@ else:
         if not cr:
             cr = (os.environ.get('LINES', 25), os.environ.get('COLUMNS', 80))
         return int(cr[1]), int(cr[0])
+
+
+# Fallback to noop_lru_cache in Python 2
+# TODO: this can be removed when python 2 support is dropped!
+def noop_lru_cache(maxsize=None):
+    # type: (Optional[int]) -> Callable[[F], F]
+    def _wrapper(f):
+        # type: (F) -> F
+        return f
+    return _wrapper
+
+
+lru_cache = getattr(functools, "lru_cache", noop_lru_cache)  # type: LruCache