diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 0178c41ff..601b73559 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ numpy>=1.15.0
 requests>=2.13.0,<3.0.0
 plac<1.0.0,>=0.9.6
 pathlib==1.0.1; python_version < "3.4"
-importlib_metadata>=0.23; python_version < "3.8"
 # Optional dependencies
 jsonschema>=2.6.0,<3.1.0
 # Development dependencies
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index c626f9566..bcb85eef3 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ install_requires =
     wasabi>=0.2.0,<1.1.0
     srsly>=0.1.0,<1.1.0
     pathlib==1.0.1; python_version < "3.4"
-    importlib_metadata>=0.23; python_version < "3.8"
 
 [options.extras_require]
 lookups =
diff --git a/spacy/compat.py b/spacy/compat.py
index 3a19e9423..16b400ad7 100644
--- a/spacy/compat.py
+++ b/spacy/compat.py
@@ -35,11 +35,6 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     cupy = None
 
-try:  # Python 3.8
-    import importlib.metadata as importlib_metadata
-except ImportError:
-    import importlib_metadata  # noqa: F401
-
 try:
     from thinc.neural.optimizers import Optimizer  # noqa: F401
 except ImportError:
diff --git a/spacy/util.py b/spacy/util.py
index 103fe35b5..06d9b460d 100644
--- a/spacy/util.py
+++ b/spacy/util.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ except ImportError:
 
 from .symbols import ORTH
 from .compat import cupy, CudaStream, path2str, basestring_, unicode_
-from .compat import import_file, importlib_metadata
+from .compat import import_file
 from .errors import Errors, Warnings, deprecation_warning
 
 
@@ -283,8 +283,7 @@ def get_entry_points(key):
     RETURNS (dict): Entry points, keyed by name.
     """
     result = {}
-    eps = importlib_metadata.entry_points()
-    for entry_point in eps.get(key, []):
+    for entry_point in pkg_resources.iter_entry_points(key):
         result[entry_point.name] = entry_point.load()
     return result
 
@@ -298,8 +297,7 @@ def get_entry_point(key, value, default=None):
     default: Optional default value to return.
     RETURNS: The loaded entry point or None.
     """
-    eps = importlib_metadata.entry_points()
-    for entry_point in eps.get(key, []):
+    for entry_point in pkg_resources.iter_entry_points(key):
         if entry_point.name == value:
             return entry_point.load()
     return default