diff --git a/spacy/cli/download.py b/spacy/cli/download.py
index 656635f79..977545dfe 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/download.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/download.py
@@ -2,13 +2,14 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 import plac
-import requests
 import os
 import subprocess
 import sys
+import ujson
 
 from .link import link
 from ..util import prints, get_package_path
+from ..compat import url_open, url_error
 from .. import about
 
 
@@ -56,13 +57,14 @@ def download(model, direct=False):
 
 
 def get_json(url, desc):
-    r = requests.get(url)
-    if r.status_code != 200:
+    try:
+        r = url_open(url)
+    except url_error as e:
         msg = ("Couldn't fetch %s. Please find a model for your spaCy "
                "installation (v%s), and download it manually.")
         prints(msg % (desc, about.__version__), about.__docs_models__,
-               title="Server error (%d)" % r.status_code, exits=1)
-    return r.json()
+               title="Server error (%d: %s)" % (e.code, e.reason), exits=1)
+    return ujson.load(r)
 
 
 def get_compatibility():
diff --git a/spacy/cli/validate.py b/spacy/cli/validate.py
index b83753509..2b7388988 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/validate.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/validate.py
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 # coding: utf8
 from __future__ import unicode_literals, print_function
 
-import requests
 import pkg_resources
 from pathlib import Path
 import sys
+import ujson
 
-from ..compat import path2str, locale_escape
+from ..compat import path2str, locale_escape, url_open, url_error
 from ..util import prints, get_data_path, read_json
 from .. import about
 
@@ -15,11 +15,12 @@ def validate():
     """Validate that the currently installed version of spaCy is compatible
     with the installed models. Should be run after `pip install -U spacy`.
     """
-    r = requests.get(about.__compatibility__)
-    if r.status_code != 200:
+    try:
+        r = url_open(about.__compatibility__)
+    except url_error as e:
         prints("Couldn't fetch compatibility table.",
-               title="Server error (%d)" % r.status_code, exits=1)
-    compat = r.json()['spacy']
+               title="Server error (%d: %s)" % (e.code, e.reason), exits=1)
+    compat = ujson.load(r)['spacy']
     current_compat = compat.get(about.__version__)
     if not current_compat:
         prints(about.__compatibility__, exits=1,