diff --git a/news/11774.bugfix.rst b/news/11774.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..771246b0b54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/11774.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Correct the way to decide if keyring is available.
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/network/auth.py b/src/pip/_internal/network/auth.py
index c1621326826..ac8cbf23bab 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/network/auth.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/network/auth.py
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ class Credentials(NamedTuple):
 class KeyRingBaseProvider(ABC):
     """Keyring base provider interface"""
 
+    has_keyring: bool
+
     @abstractmethod
     def get_auth_info(self, url: str, username: Optional[str]) -> Optional[AuthInfo]:
         ...
@@ -51,6 +53,8 @@ def save_auth_info(self, url: str, username: str, password: str) -> None:
 class KeyRingNullProvider(KeyRingBaseProvider):
     """Keyring null provider"""
 
+    has_keyring = False
+
     def get_auth_info(self, url: str, username: Optional[str]) -> Optional[AuthInfo]:
         return None
 
@@ -61,6 +65,8 @@ def save_auth_info(self, url: str, username: str, password: str) -> None:
 class KeyRingPythonProvider(KeyRingBaseProvider):
     """Keyring interface which uses locally imported `keyring`"""
 
+    has_keyring = True
+
     def __init__(self) -> None:
         import keyring
 
@@ -97,6 +103,8 @@ class KeyRingCliProvider(KeyRingBaseProvider):
     PATH.
     """
 
+    has_keyring = True
+
     def __init__(self, cmd: str) -> None:
         self.keyring = cmd
 
@@ -359,7 +367,7 @@ def _prompt_for_password(
 
     # Factored out to allow for easy patching in tests
     def _should_save_password_to_keyring(self) -> bool:
-        if get_keyring_provider() is None:
+        if not get_keyring_provider().has_keyring:
             return False
         return ask("Save credentials to keyring [y/N]: ", ["y", "n"]) == "y"
 
@@ -432,9 +440,7 @@ def warn_on_401(self, resp: Response, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
     def save_credentials(self, resp: Response, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
         """Response callback to save credentials on success."""
         keyring = get_keyring_provider()
-        assert not isinstance(
-            keyring, KeyRingNullProvider
-        ), "should never reach here without keyring"
+        assert keyring.has_keyring, "should never reach here without keyring"
 
         creds = self._credentials_to_save
         self._credentials_to_save = None