diff --git a/readthedocs/core/permissions.py b/readthedocs/core/permissions.py
index 1c397eae11c..a3bfa04235c 100644
--- a/readthedocs/core/permissions.py
+++ b/readthedocs/core/permissions.py
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ class AdminPermissionBase:
 
     @classmethod
     def is_admin(cls, user, project):
+        # This explicitly uses "user in project.users.all" so that
+        # users on projects can be cached using prefetch_related or prefetch_related_objects
         return user in project.users.all() or user.is_superuser
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/readthedocs/projects/views/public.py b/readthedocs/projects/views/public.py
index 2976cecb693..cc945b19676 100644
--- a/readthedocs/projects/views/public.py
+++ b/readthedocs/projects/views/public.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from django.core.cache import cache
 from django.core.files.storage import get_storage_class
+from django.db.models import prefetch_related_objects
 from django.http import HttpResponse, HttpResponseRedirect
 from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404, render
 from django.urls import reverse
@@ -271,6 +272,9 @@ def project_versions(request, project_slug):
     if wiped and wiped_version.count():
         messages.success(request, 'Version wiped: ' + wiped)
 
+    # Optimize project permission checks
+    prefetch_related_objects([project], 'users')
+
     return render(
         request,
         'projects/project_version_list.html',