diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 3a0c4e99754..c7871884aee 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ PATH
       mini_mime (>= 1.1.0)
     activesupport (7.1.0.alpha)
       concurrent-ruby (~> 1.0, >= 1.0.2)
+      connection_pool (>= 2.2.5)
       i18n (>= 1.6, < 2)
       minitest (>= 5.1)
       tzinfo (~> 2.0)
diff --git a/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md b/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md
index 7d15ce961e3..5915ada0665 100644
--- a/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/activesupport/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+*   Enable connection pooling by default for `MemCacheStore` and `RedisCacheStore`.
+
+    If you want to disable connection pooling, set `:pool` option to `false` when configuring the cache store:
+
+    ```ruby
+    config.cache_store = :mem_cache_store, "cache.example.com", pool: false
+    ```
+
+    *fatkodima*
+
 *   Add `force:` support to `ActiveSupport::Cache::Store#fetch_multi`.
 
     *fatkodima*
diff --git a/activesupport/activesupport.gemspec b/activesupport/activesupport.gemspec
index ed2b1b6689f..5ac821c37ae 100644
--- a/activesupport/activesupport.gemspec
+++ b/activesupport/activesupport.gemspec
@@ -37,5 +37,6 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_dependency "i18n",            ">= 1.6", "< 2"
   s.add_dependency "tzinfo",          "~> 2.0"
   s.add_dependency "concurrent-ruby", "~> 1.0", ">= 1.0.2"
+  s.add_dependency "connection_pool", ">= 2.2.5"
   s.add_dependency "minitest",        ">= 5.1"
 end
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache.rb
index 1f8187a99e9..8e831b1ba99 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache.rb
@@ -187,6 +187,10 @@ module ActiveSupport
           private_constant :DEFAULT_POOL_OPTIONS
 
           def retrieve_pool_options(options)
+            unless options.key?(:pool) || options.key?(:pool_size) || options.key?(:pool_timeout)
+              options[:pool] = true
+            end
+
             if (pool_options = options.delete(:pool))
               if Hash === pool_options
                 DEFAULT_POOL_OPTIONS.merge(pool_options)
@@ -213,13 +217,6 @@ module ActiveSupport
               end
             end
           end
-
-          def ensure_connection_pool_added!
-            require "connection_pool"
-          rescue LoadError => e
-            $stderr.puts "You don't have connection_pool installed in your application. Please add it to your Gemfile and run bundle install"
-            raise e
-          end
       end
 
       # Creates a new cache. The options will be passed to any write method calls
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache/mem_cache_store.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache/mem_cache_store.rb
index e71efa32671..e03ae08824e 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache/mem_cache_store.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache/mem_cache_store.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ rescue LoadError => e
   raise e
 end
 
+require "connection_pool"
 require "delegate"
 require "active_support/core_ext/enumerable"
 require "active_support/core_ext/array/extract_options"
@@ -94,7 +95,6 @@ module ActiveSupport
         if pool_options.empty?
           Dalli::Client.new(addresses, options)
         else
-          ensure_connection_pool_added!
           ConnectionPool.new(pool_options) { Dalli::Client.new(addresses, options.merge(threadsafe: false)) }
         end
       end
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache/redis_cache_store.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache/redis_cache_store.rb
index 854ce2e951c..8bf233bbb1f 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache/redis_cache_store.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/cache/redis_cache_store.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ begin
 rescue LoadError
 end
 
+require "connection_pool"
 require "active_support/core_ext/numeric/time"
 require "active_support/digest"
 
@@ -170,7 +171,6 @@ module ActiveSupport
           pool_options = self.class.send(:retrieve_pool_options, redis_options)
 
           if pool_options.any?
-            self.class.send(:ensure_connection_pool_added!)
             ::ConnectionPool.new(pool_options) { self.class.build_redis(**redis_options) }
           else
             self.class.build_redis(**redis_options)
diff --git a/activesupport/test/cache/behaviors/connection_pool_behavior.rb b/activesupport/test/cache/behaviors/connection_pool_behavior.rb
index 90121f64677..cb59c04c51d 100644
--- a/activesupport/test/cache/behaviors/connection_pool_behavior.rb
+++ b/activesupport/test/cache/behaviors/connection_pool_behavior.rb
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ module ConnectionPoolBehavior
     threads = []
 
     emulating_latency do
-      cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(*store, store_options)
+      cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(*store, store_options.merge(pool: false))
 
       assert_nothing_raised do
         # Default connection pool size is 5, assuming 10 will make sure that
diff --git a/activesupport/test/cache/cache_store_setting_test.rb b/activesupport/test/cache/cache_store_setting_test.rb
index b9fdc5bf2e3..4791b5a8c01 100644
--- a/activesupport/test/cache/cache_store_setting_test.rb
+++ b/activesupport/test/cache/cache_store_setting_test.rb
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class CacheStoreSettingTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
 
   def test_mem_cache_fragment_cache_store
     assert_called_with(Dalli::Client, :new, [%w[localhost], { compress: false }]) do
-      store = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store :mem_cache_store, "localhost"
+      store = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store :mem_cache_store, "localhost", pool: false
       assert_kind_of(ActiveSupport::Cache::MemCacheStore, store)
     end
   end
@@ -53,14 +53,14 @@ class CacheStoreSettingTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
 
   def test_mem_cache_fragment_cache_store_with_multiple_servers
     assert_called_with(Dalli::Client, :new, [%w[localhost 192.168.1.1], { compress: false }]) do
-      store = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store :mem_cache_store, "localhost", "192.168.1.1"
+      store = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store :mem_cache_store, "localhost", "192.168.1.1", pool: false
       assert_kind_of(ActiveSupport::Cache::MemCacheStore, store)
     end
   end
 
   def test_mem_cache_fragment_cache_store_with_options
     assert_called_with(Dalli::Client, :new, [%w[localhost 192.168.1.1], { timeout: 10, compress: false }]) do
-      store = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store :mem_cache_store, "localhost", "192.168.1.1", namespace: "foo", timeout: 10
+      store = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store :mem_cache_store, "localhost", "192.168.1.1", namespace: "foo", timeout: 10, pool: false
       assert_kind_of(ActiveSupport::Cache::MemCacheStore, store)
       assert_equal "foo", store.options[:namespace]
     end
diff --git a/activesupport/test/cache/stores/mem_cache_store_test.rb b/activesupport/test/cache/stores/mem_cache_store_test.rb
index a90b29376ff..c0a000e7477 100644
--- a/activesupport/test/cache/stores/mem_cache_store_test.rb
+++ b/activesupport/test/cache/stores/mem_cache_store_test.rb
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ class MemCacheStoreTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     end
   end
 
-  def lookup_store(options = {})
-    cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(*store, { namespace: @namespace }.merge(options))
+  def lookup_store(*addresses, **options)
+    cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:mem_cache_store, *addresses, { namespace: @namespace, pool: false }.merge(options))
     (@_stores ||= []) << cache
     cache
   end
@@ -220,28 +220,28 @@ class MemCacheStoreTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
   end
 
   def test_unless_exist_expires_when_configured
-    cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:mem_cache_store)
+    cache = lookup_store(namespace: nil)
     assert_called_with client(cache), :add, [ "foo", Object, 1, Hash ] do
       cache.write("foo", "bar", expires_in: 1, unless_exist: true)
     end
   end
 
   def test_uses_provided_dalli_client_if_present
-    cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:mem_cache_store, Dalli::Client.new("custom_host"))
+    cache = lookup_store(Dalli::Client.new("custom_host"))
 
     assert_equal ["custom_host"], servers(cache)
   end
 
   def test_forwards_string_addresses_if_present
     expected_addresses = ["first", "second"]
-    cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:mem_cache_store, expected_addresses)
+    cache = lookup_store(expected_addresses)
 
     assert_equal expected_addresses, servers(cache)
   end
 
   def test_falls_back_to_localhost_if_no_address_provided_and_memcache_servers_undefined
     with_memcache_servers_environment_variable(nil) do
-      cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:mem_cache_store)
+      cache = lookup_store
 
       assert_equal ["127.0.0.1:11211"], servers(cache)
     end
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ class MemCacheStoreTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
 
   def test_falls_back_to_localhost_if_address_provided_as_nil
     with_memcache_servers_environment_variable(nil) do
-      cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:mem_cache_store, nil)
+      cache = lookup_store(nil)
 
       assert_equal ["127.0.0.1:11211"], servers(cache)
     end
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ class MemCacheStoreTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
 
   def test_falls_back_to_localhost_if_no_address_provided_and_memcache_servers_defined
     with_memcache_servers_environment_variable("custom_host") do
-      cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:mem_cache_store)
+      cache = lookup_store
 
       assert_equal ["custom_host"], servers(cache)
     end
@@ -324,6 +324,14 @@ class MemCacheStoreTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     end
   end
 
+  def test_connection_pooling_by_default
+    cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:mem_cache_store)
+    pool = cache.instance_variable_get(:@data)
+    assert_kind_of ::ConnectionPool, pool
+    assert_equal 5, pool.size
+    assert_equal 5, pool.instance_variable_get(:@timeout)
+  end
+
   private
     def random_string(length)
       (0...length).map { (65 + rand(26)).chr }.join
diff --git a/activesupport/test/cache/stores/redis_cache_store_test.rb b/activesupport/test/cache/stores/redis_cache_store_test.rb
index 2cd27be8562..ef1dbf278d1 100644
--- a/activesupport/test/cache/stores/redis_cache_store_test.rb
+++ b/activesupport/test/cache/stores/redis_cache_store_test.rb
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ module ActiveSupport::Cache::RedisCacheStoreTests
 
     private
       def build(**kwargs)
-        ActiveSupport::Cache::RedisCacheStore.new(driver: DRIVER, **kwargs).tap(&:redis)
+        ActiveSupport::Cache::RedisCacheStore.new(driver: DRIVER, **kwargs.merge(pool: false)).tap(&:redis)
       end
   end
 
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ module ActiveSupport::Cache::RedisCacheStoreTests
     end
 
     def lookup_store(options = {})
-      ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:redis_cache_store, { timeout: 0.1, namespace: @namespace, driver: DRIVER }.merge(options))
+      ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:redis_cache_store, { timeout: 0.1, namespace: @namespace, driver: DRIVER, pool: false }.merge(options))
     end
 
     teardown do
@@ -300,6 +300,14 @@ module ActiveSupport::Cache::RedisCacheStoreTests
       end
     end
 
+    def test_connection_pooling_by_default
+      cache = ActiveSupport::Cache.lookup_store(:redis_cache_store)
+      pool = cache.redis
+      assert_kind_of ::ConnectionPool, pool
+      assert_equal 5, pool.size
+      assert_equal 5, pool.instance_variable_get(:@timeout)
+    end
+
     private
       def store
         [:redis_cache_store]
diff --git a/guides/source/caching_with_rails.md b/guides/source/caching_with_rails.md
index 6c789db067b..f75793fe686 100644
--- a/guides/source/caching_with_rails.md
+++ b/guides/source/caching_with_rails.md
@@ -395,27 +395,22 @@ There are some common options that can be used by all cache implementations. The
 
 #### Connection Pool Options
 
-By default the `MemCacheStore` and `RedisCacheStore` use a single connection
-per process. This means that if you're using Puma, or another threaded server,
-you can have multiple threads waiting for the connection to become available.
-To increase the number of available connections you can enable connection
-pooling.
+By default the `MemCacheStore` and `RedisCacheStore` are configured to use
+connection pooling. This means that if you're using Puma, or another threaded server,
+you can have multiple threads performing queries to the cache store at the same time.
 
-First, add the `connection_pool` gem to your Gemfile:
+If you want to disable connection pooling, set `:pool` option to `false` when configuring the cache store:
 
 ```ruby
-gem 'connection_pool'
+config.cache_store = :mem_cache_store, "cache.example.com", pool: false
 ```
 
-Next, set `:pool` option to `true` when configuring the cache store:
+You can also override default pool settings by providing individual options to the `:pool` option:
 
 ```ruby
-config.cache_store = :mem_cache_store, "cache.example.com", pool: true
+config.cache_store = :mem_cache_store, "cache.example.com", pool: { size: 32, timeout: 1 }
 ```
 
-You can also override default pool settings by providing individual options
-instead of `true` to this option.
-
 * `:size` - This option sets the number of connections per process (defaults to 5).
 
 * `:timeout` - This option sets the number of seconds to wait for a connection (defaults to 5). If no connection is available within the timeout, a `Timeout::Error` will be raised.