diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index f5bd83870..4e6faa469 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -255,14 +255,8 @@ are needed to unlock optional features.
 Testing
 ~~~~~~~
 
-To run the test suite, you can do:
-
-.. code:: sh
-
-    python setup.py test
-
-If you have `pytest <http://docs.pytest.org/en/latest/>`__, you can run
-the ``pytest`` command directly. The tests will run against the
+To run the test suite, you need to install `pytest <http://docs.pytest.org/en/latest/>`__.
+When you run the ``pytest`` command, the tests will run against the
 installed ``fontTools`` package, or the first one found in the
 ``PYTHONPATH``.
 
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 903fbf34d..2e18773b7 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -30,9 +30,6 @@ universal = 1
 [sdist]
 formats = zip
 
-[aliases]
-test = pytest
-
 [metadata]
 license_file = LICENSE
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a8d7edf65..5eaa349bd 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ def doraise_py_compile(file, cfile=None, dfile=None, doraise=False):
 
 py_compile.compile = doraise_py_compile
 
-needs_pytest = {'pytest', 'test'}.intersection(sys.argv)
-pytest_runner = ['pytest_runner'] if needs_pytest else []
 needs_wheel = {'bdist_wheel'}.intersection(sys.argv)
 wheel = ['wheel'] if needs_wheel else []
 needs_bumpversion = {'release'}.intersection(sys.argv)
@@ -353,10 +351,7 @@ setup(
 	packages=find_packages("Lib"),
 	include_package_data=True,
 	data_files=find_data_files(),
-	setup_requires=pytest_runner + wheel + bumpversion,
-	tests_require=[
-		'pytest>=3.0',
-	],
+	setup_requires=wheel + bumpversion,
 	extras_require=extras_require,
 	entry_points={
 		'console_scripts': [