diff --git a/cli-plugins/manager/cobra.go b/cli-plugins/manager/cobra.go
index 71b6fe716d..be3a058201 100644
--- a/cli-plugins/manager/cobra.go
+++ b/cli-plugins/manager/cobra.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package manager
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/docker/cli/cli/command"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -31,64 +32,69 @@ const (
 	CommandAnnotationPluginInvalid = "com.docker.cli.plugin-invalid"
 )
 
+var pluginCommandStubsOnce sync.Once
+
 // AddPluginCommandStubs adds a stub cobra.Commands for each valid and invalid
 // plugin. The command stubs will have several annotations added, see
 // `CommandAnnotationPlugin*`.
-func AddPluginCommandStubs(dockerCli command.Cli, rootCmd *cobra.Command) error {
-	plugins, err := ListPlugins(dockerCli, rootCmd)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	for _, p := range plugins {
-		p := p
-		vendor := p.Vendor
-		if vendor == "" {
-			vendor = "unknown"
+func AddPluginCommandStubs(dockerCli command.Cli, rootCmd *cobra.Command) (err error) {
+	pluginCommandStubsOnce.Do(func() {
+		var plugins []Plugin
+		plugins, err = ListPlugins(dockerCli, rootCmd)
+		if err != nil {
+			return
 		}
-		annotations := map[string]string{
-			CommandAnnotationPlugin:        "true",
-			CommandAnnotationPluginVendor:  vendor,
-			CommandAnnotationPluginVersion: p.Version,
-		}
-		if p.Err != nil {
-			annotations[CommandAnnotationPluginInvalid] = p.Err.Error()
-		}
-		rootCmd.AddCommand(&cobra.Command{
-			Use:                p.Name,
-			Short:              p.ShortDescription,
-			Run:                func(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string) {},
-			Annotations:        annotations,
-			DisableFlagParsing: true,
-			RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
-				flags := rootCmd.PersistentFlags()
-				flags.SetOutput(nil)
-				err := flags.Parse(args)
-				if err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
-				if flags.Changed("help") {
-					cmd.HelpFunc()(rootCmd, args)
-					return nil
-				}
-				return fmt.Errorf("docker: '%s' is not a docker command.\nSee 'docker --help'", cmd.Name())
-			},
-			ValidArgsFunction: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
-				// Delegate completion to plugin
-				cargs := []string{p.Path, cobra.ShellCompRequestCmd, p.Name}
-				cargs = append(cargs, args...)
-				cargs = append(cargs, toComplete)
-				os.Args = cargs
-				runCommand, err := PluginRunCommand(dockerCli, p.Name, cmd)
-				if err != nil {
+		for _, p := range plugins {
+			p := p
+			vendor := p.Vendor
+			if vendor == "" {
+				vendor = "unknown"
+			}
+			annotations := map[string]string{
+				CommandAnnotationPlugin:        "true",
+				CommandAnnotationPluginVendor:  vendor,
+				CommandAnnotationPluginVersion: p.Version,
+			}
+			if p.Err != nil {
+				annotations[CommandAnnotationPluginInvalid] = p.Err.Error()
+			}
+			rootCmd.AddCommand(&cobra.Command{
+				Use:                p.Name,
+				Short:              p.ShortDescription,
+				Run:                func(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string) {},
+				Annotations:        annotations,
+				DisableFlagParsing: true,
+				RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+					flags := rootCmd.PersistentFlags()
+					flags.SetOutput(nil)
+					perr := flags.Parse(args)
+					if perr != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+					if flags.Changed("help") {
+						cmd.HelpFunc()(rootCmd, args)
+						return nil
+					}
+					return fmt.Errorf("docker: '%s' is not a docker command.\nSee 'docker --help'", cmd.Name())
+				},
+				ValidArgsFunction: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
+					// Delegate completion to plugin
+					cargs := []string{p.Path, cobra.ShellCompRequestCmd, p.Name}
+					cargs = append(cargs, args...)
+					cargs = append(cargs, toComplete)
+					os.Args = cargs
+					runCommand, runErr := PluginRunCommand(dockerCli, p.Name, cmd)
+					if runErr != nil {
+						return nil, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveError
+					}
+					runErr = runCommand.Run()
+					if runErr == nil {
+						os.Exit(0) // plugin already rendered complete data
+					}
 					return nil, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveError
-				}
-				err = runCommand.Run()
-				if err == nil {
-					os.Exit(0) // plugin already rendered complete data
-				}
-				return nil, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveError
-			},
-		})
-	}
-	return nil
+				},
+			})
+		}
+	})
+	return err
 }
diff --git a/cli/cobra.go b/cli/cobra.go
index 1b07fc5648..6501197ddd 100644
--- a/cli/cobra.go
+++ b/cli/cobra.go
@@ -204,6 +204,16 @@ func DisableFlagsInUseLine(cmd *cobra.Command) {
 	})
 }
 
+// HasCompletionArg returns true if a cobra completion arg request is found.
+func HasCompletionArg(args []string) bool {
+	for _, arg := range args {
+		if arg == cobra.ShellCompRequestCmd || arg == cobra.ShellCompNoDescRequestCmd {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 var helpCommand = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:               "help [command]",
 	Short:             "Help about the command",
diff --git a/cmd/docker/docker.go b/cmd/docker/docker.go
index 9becec2c07..d18125a634 100644
--- a/cmd/docker/docker.go
+++ b/cmd/docker/docker.go
@@ -133,13 +133,20 @@ func tryRunPluginHelp(dockerCli command.Cli, ccmd *cobra.Command, cargs []string
 func setHelpFunc(dockerCli command.Cli, cmd *cobra.Command) {
 	defaultHelpFunc := cmd.HelpFunc()
 	cmd.SetHelpFunc(func(ccmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
-		if pluginmanager.IsPluginCommand(ccmd) {
+		if err := pluginmanager.AddPluginCommandStubs(dockerCli, ccmd.Root()); err != nil {
+			ccmd.Println(err)
+			return
+		}
+
+		if len(args) >= 1 {
 			err := tryRunPluginHelp(dockerCli, ccmd, args)
+			if err == nil {
+				return
+			}
 			if !pluginmanager.IsNotFound(err) {
 				ccmd.Println(err)
+				return
 			}
-			cmd.PrintErrf("unknown help topic: %v\n", ccmd.Name())
-			return
 		}
 
 		if err := isSupported(ccmd, dockerCli); err != nil {
@@ -227,9 +234,14 @@ func runDocker(dockerCli *command.DockerCli) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	err = pluginmanager.AddPluginCommandStubs(dockerCli, cmd)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
+	if cli.HasCompletionArg(args) {
+		// We add plugin command stubs early only for completion. We don't
+		// want to add them for normal command execution as it would cause
+		// a significant performance hit.
+		err = pluginmanager.AddPluginCommandStubs(dockerCli, cmd)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 
 	if len(args) > 0 {
diff --git a/e2e/cli-plugins/run_test.go b/e2e/cli-plugins/run_test.go
index 2a2f318f46..d3daa35563 100644
--- a/e2e/cli-plugins/run_test.go
+++ b/e2e/cli-plugins/run_test.go
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ func TestHelpBad(t *testing.T) {
 
 	res := icmd.RunCmd(run("help", "badmeta"))
 	res.Assert(t, icmd.Expected{
-		ExitCode: 0,
+		ExitCode: 1,
 		Out:      icmd.None,
 	})
 	golden.Assert(t, res.Stderr(), "docker-help-badmeta-err.golden")
@@ -110,8 +110,8 @@ func TestBadHelp(t *testing.T) {
 	res.Assert(t, icmd.Expected{
 		ExitCode: 0,
 		// This should be identical to the --help case above
-		Out: usage,
-		Err: shortHFlagDeprecated,
+		Out: shortHFlagDeprecated + usage,
+		Err: icmd.None,
 	})
 }