diff --git a/docs/source/user_guide/config.rst b/docs/source/user_guide/config.rst
index 5cc28eb2bf..d537b154e6 100644
--- a/docs/source/user_guide/config.rst
+++ b/docs/source/user_guide/config.rst
@@ -123,6 +123,10 @@ FiftyOne supports the configuration options described below:
 |                               |                                     |                               | operations such reading/writing large datasets or activating FiftyOne                  |
 |                               |                                     |                               | Brain methods on datasets.                                                             |
 +-------------------------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| `singleton_cache`             | `FIFTYONE_SINGLETON_CACHE`          | `True`                        | Whether to treat :class:`Dataset <fiftyone.core.dataset.Dataset>`,                     |
+|                               |                                     |                               | :class:`Sample <fiftyone.core.sample.Sample>`, and                                     |
+|                               |                                     |                               | :class:`Frame <fiftyone.core.frame.Frame>` instances as singletons.                    |
++-------------------------------+-------------------------------------+-------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 | `timezone`                    | `FIFTYONE_TIMEZONE`                 | `None`                        | An optional timezone string. If provided, all datetimes read from FiftyOne datasets    |
 |                               |                                     |                               | will be expressed in this timezone. See :ref:`this section <configuring-timezone>` for |
 |                               |                                     |                               | more information.                                                                      |
@@ -182,6 +186,7 @@ and the CLI:
             "plugins_dir": null,
             "requirement_error_level": 0,
             "show_progress_bars": true,
+            "singleton_cache": true,
             "timezone": null
         }
 
@@ -231,6 +236,7 @@ and the CLI:
             "plugins_dir": null,
             "requirement_error_level": 0,
             "show_progress_bars": true,
+            "singleton_cache": true,
             "timezone": null
         }
 
diff --git a/fiftyone/core/config.py b/fiftyone/core/config.py
index b2bf8d4050..4aa663fabe 100644
--- a/fiftyone/core/config.py
+++ b/fiftyone/core/config.py
@@ -244,6 +244,12 @@ def __init__(self, d=None):
             env_var="FIFTYONE_MAX_PROCESS_POOL_WORKERS",
             default=None,
         )
+        self.singleton_cache = self.parse_bool(
+            d,
+            "singleton_cache",
+            env_var="FIFTYONE_SINGLETON_CACHE",
+            default=True,
+        )
 
         self._init()
 
diff --git a/fiftyone/core/singletons.py b/fiftyone/core/singletons.py
index 9068dfa44e..b7103578f3 100644
--- a/fiftyone/core/singletons.py
+++ b/fiftyone/core/singletons.py
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 from collections import defaultdict
 import weakref
 
+import fiftyone as fo
+
 
 class DatasetSingleton(type):
     """Singleton metaclass for :class:`fiftyone.core.dataset.Dataset`.
@@ -44,7 +46,8 @@ def __call__(cls, name=None, _create=True, *args, **kwargs):
                     name=name, _create=_create, *args, **kwargs
                 )
 
-        cls._instances[name] = instance
+        if fo.config.singleton_cache:
+            cls._instances[name] = instance
 
         return instance
 
@@ -107,7 +110,8 @@ def __new__(metacls, *args, **kwargs):
         return cls
 
     def _register_instance(cls, obj):
-        cls._instances[obj._doc.collection_name][obj.id] = obj
+        if fo.config.singleton_cache:
+            cls._instances[obj._doc.collection_name][obj.id] = obj
 
     def _get_instance(cls, doc):
         try:
@@ -252,9 +256,10 @@ def __new__(metacls, *args, **kwargs):
         return cls
 
     def _register_instance(cls, obj):
-        cls._instances[obj._doc.collection_name][obj.sample_id][
-            obj.frame_number
-        ] = obj
+        if fo.config.singleton_cache:
+            cls._instances[obj._doc.collection_name][obj.sample_id][
+                obj.frame_number
+            ] = obj
 
     def _get_instance(cls, doc):
         try: