diff --git a/scopedsites/middleware.py b/scopedsites/middleware.py
index efb6dd2..69a6ab6 100644
--- a/scopedsites/middleware.py
+++ b/scopedsites/middleware.py
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ class DomainScopeMiddleware:
         self.get_response = get_response
 
     def __call__(self, request):
-        d = Domain.get_from_request(request)
+        d = Domain.get_from_request(request)  # technically does hit the db layer, but should get caught in memcache
+        # TODO: performance testing
 
         with scope(domain=d):
             response = self.get_response(request)
@@ -20,11 +21,18 @@ class DomainScopeMiddleware:
 class DomainAutoCreateMiddleware:
     def __init__(self, get_response):
         self.get_response = get_response
+        self.cache = set()
+
+    def ensure_exists(self, r):
+        if (host := r.META.get("HTTP_HOST")) in self.cache:
+            return
 
-    def __call__(self, request):
         try:
-            Domain.get_from_request(request)
+            Domain.get_from_request(r)
+            self.cache.add(host)
         except Http404:
-            Domain.objects.create(fqdn=request.META.get('HTTP_HOST'))
+            Domain.objects.create(fqdn=r.META.get('HTTP_HOST'))
 
+    def __call__(self, request):
+        self.ensure_exists(request)
         return self.get_response(request)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 1d0a717..47474ea 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ from setuptools import setup
 setup(
     name="django_scopedsites",
     packages=["scopedsites", "scopedsites.migrations"],
-    version="0.1.2",
+    version="0.1.3",
     description="django_scopes x django.contrib.sites",
     python_requires=">=3.6",
     install_requires=[