diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fdc7d3a3e..d5c52bd9e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 * [#2918](https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape/pull/2918): Skip the dry-types round trip when a value already is the declared type - [@ericproulx](https://github.com/ericproulx).
 * [#2917](https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape/pull/2917): Read path captures out of the router's union match instead of re-running the route's pattern - [@ericproulx](https://github.com/ericproulx).
 * [#2921](https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape/pull/2921): Pin the router's request-time isolation regressions through requests instead of its instance variables - [@ericproulx](https://github.com/ericproulx).
+* [#2922](https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape/pull/2922): Answer the header versioner's common Accept headers from a table built once instead of negotiating them per request - [@ericproulx](https://github.com/ericproulx).
 * Your contribution here.
 
 ### 4.0.0 (2026-09-07)
diff --git a/UPGRADING.md b/UPGRADING.md
index 965065fc5..2ceb2102f 100644
--- a/UPGRADING.md
+++ b/UPGRADING.md
@@ -1,6 +1,20 @@
 Upgrading Grape
 ===============
 
+### Upgrading to >= 4.1.0
+
+#### The header versioner's `api.*` env values are frozen
+
+`version ..., using: :header` now answers the Accept headers most requests send from a table built once, so every request sending the same header is handed the same parsed media type ([#2922](https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape/pull/2922)). The strings it writes into the env — `api.type`, `api.subtype`, `api.vendor`, `api.version` and `api.format` — are therefore frozen, as is `Grape::Util::MediaType` itself. Code that altered one of them in place now raises `FrozenError`; build a new String instead:
+
+```ruby
+# Before
+env['api.version'] << '-beta'
+
+# After
+env['api.version'] = "#{env['api.version']}-beta"
+```
+
 ### Upgrading to >= 4.0.0
 
 #### A positional options Hash is no longer accepted by `auth`, `http_basic` or `desc`
diff --git a/lib/grape/middleware/versioner/header.rb b/lib/grape/middleware/versioner/header.rb
index 26d83050c..2fd9f70ab 100644
--- a/lib/grape/middleware/versioner/header.rb
+++ b/lib/grape/middleware/versioner/header.rb
@@ -22,6 +22,42 @@ module Versioner
       # X-Cascade header to alert Grape::Router to attempt the next matched
       # route.
       class Header < Base
+        # Accept headers answered up front besides the declared media types:
+        # +*/*+, what curl, Net::HTTP and most HTTP libraries send unless told
+        # otherwise, and no Accept header at all.
+        COMMON_ACCEPT_HEADERS = ['*/*', nil].freeze
+
+        # +MediaType.best_quality+ answers from the header and
+        # +available_media_types+ alone, and the latter is fixed once the
+        # middleware is built. Most requests send one of a handful of headers --
+        # a declared media type spelled as declared (+application/vnd.acme-v1+json+)
+        # or one of COMMON_ACCEPT_HEADERS -- so their answers are worked out
+        # once instead of re-running Rack's q-value match and a parse on every
+        # request. Any other header (a q-value list, another casing) is not a
+        # key and takes the full path, so a client cannot grow a table.
+        #
+        # Shared per list: every endpoint builds its own versioner, and all of
+        # an API's declare the same media types. The key is a frozen copy, as
+        # the middleware's own list stays reachable through
+        # +available_media_types+.
+        class MediaTypeForAcceptCache < Grape::Util::Cache
+          def initialize
+            super
+            @cache = Hash.new do |h, available_media_types|
+              declared = available_media_types.map(&:-@).freeze
+              h[declared] = [*declared, *COMMON_ACCEPT_HEADERS].each_with_object({}) do |accept, media_types|
+                media_type = Grape::Util::MediaType.best_quality(accept, declared)
+                media_types[accept] = media_type if media_type
+              end.freeze
+            end
+          end
+        end
+
+        def initialize(app, **options)
+          super
+          @media_type_for_accept = MediaTypeForAcceptCache[available_media_types]
+        end
+
         def before
           match_best_quality_media_type! do |media_type|
             env.update(
@@ -40,7 +76,7 @@ def match_best_quality_media_type!
           return unless vendor
 
           strict_header_checks!
-          media_type = Grape::Util::MediaType.best_quality(accept_header, available_media_types)
+          media_type = @media_type_for_accept[accept_header] || Grape::Util::MediaType.best_quality(accept_header, available_media_types)
           return yield media_type if media_type
 
           fail!
diff --git a/lib/grape/util/media_type.rb b/lib/grape/util/media_type.rb
index e4f041f19..05331f834 100644
--- a/lib/grape/util/media_type.rb
+++ b/lib/grape/util/media_type.rb
@@ -13,14 +13,19 @@ class MediaType
       # in the case they will be compared in.
       VENDOR_VERSION_HEADER_REGEX = /\Avnd\.(?<vendor>[a-z0-9.\-_!^]+?)(?:-(?<version>[a-z0-9*.]+))?(?:\+(?<format>[a-z0-9*\-.]+))?\z/
 
+      # Immutable, strings included: the header versioner shares one instance
+      # per declared media type across every request that sends it, and these
+      # strings are what it writes into the env. The arguments are copied
+      # rather than frozen, as they are the caller's.
       def initialize(type:, subtype:)
-        @type = type
-        @subtype = subtype
-        VENDOR_VERSION_HEADER_REGEX.match(subtype) do |m|
-          @vendor = m[:vendor]
-          @version = m[:version]
-          @format = m[:format]
+        @type = -type
+        @subtype = -subtype
+        VENDOR_VERSION_HEADER_REGEX.match(@subtype) do |m|
+          @vendor = m[:vendor].freeze
+          @version = m[:version].freeze
+          @format = m[:format].freeze
         end
+        freeze
       end
 
       def ==(other)
diff --git a/spec/grape/middleware/versioner/header_spec.rb b/spec/grape/middleware/versioner/header_spec.rb
index 3e46f1133..62d38d8e3 100644
--- a/spec/grape/middleware/versioner/header_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/grape/middleware/versioner/header_spec.rb
@@ -145,6 +145,17 @@
         expect(exception.message).to include('API version not found')
       end
     end
+
+    # Requests sending the same Accept header are all answered from one parsed
+    # media type, so what a request is handed must not be alterable in place.
+    it 'cannot be altered by one request for the next' do
+      keys = [Grape::Env::API_TYPE, Grape::Env::API_SUBTYPE, Grape::Env::API_VENDOR, Grape::Env::API_VERSION, Grape::Env::API_FORMAT]
+      _, _, env = subject.call('HTTP_ACCEPT' => 'application/vnd.vendor-v1+json')
+      keys.each { |key| expect { env[key] << '-altered' }.to raise_error(FrozenError) }
+
+      _, _, env = subject.call('HTTP_ACCEPT' => 'application/vnd.vendor-v1+json')
+      expect(env.values_at(*keys)).to eq(%w[application vnd.vendor-v1+json vendor v1 json])
+    end
   end
 
   it 'succeeds if :strict is not set' do