diff --git a/gns3server/controller/compute.py b/gns3server/controller/compute.py
index 7ec8691a8..d32a1a84a 100644
--- a/gns3server/controller/compute.py
+++ b/gns3server/controller/compute.py
@@ -102,7 +102,13 @@ class Compute:
 
     def _session(self):
         if self._http_session is None or self._http_session.closed is True:
-            connector = aiohttp.TCPConnector(force_close=True, ssl_context=self._ssl_context)
+            # Reuse TCP keep-alive for local compute (loopback) to avoid paying
+            # a TCP handshake on every HTTP request; force-close for remote
+            # computes in case intermediate firewalls/NATs drop idle connections.
+            _local = self._host in ("127.0.0.1", "::1", "localhost")
+            connector = aiohttp.TCPConnector(
+                force_close=not _local, ssl_context=self._ssl_context
+            )
             self._http_session = aiohttp.ClientSession(connector=connector)
         return self._http_session