diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2ceb9bfbb..7be26c413 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -193,7 +193,6 @@ def setup_package():
                 'thinc>=5.0.0,<5.1.0',
                 'plac',
                 'six',
-                'ujson',
                 'cloudpickle',
                 'sputnik>=0.9.2,<0.10.0'],
             classifiers=[
diff --git a/spacy/gold.pyx b/spacy/gold.pyx
index 67716b0ab..12c18b1c4 100644
--- a/spacy/gold.pyx
+++ b/spacy/gold.pyx
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import numpy
 import io
 import json
-import ujson
 import random
 import re
 import os
diff --git a/spacy/strings.pyx b/spacy/strings.pyx
index c890cdd22..2e81bd87b 100644
--- a/spacy/strings.pyx
+++ b/spacy/strings.pyx
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@ from preshed.maps cimport map_iter, key_t
 
 from .typedefs cimport hash_t
 
-import ujson as json
+try:
+    import ujson as json
+except ImportError:
+    import json
 
 
 cpdef hash_t hash_string(unicode string) except 0: