diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 601b73559..0178c41ff 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ 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 bcb85eef3..c626f9566 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ 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 16b400ad7..3a19e9423 100644
--- a/spacy/compat.py
+++ b/spacy/compat.py
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@ 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 06d9b460d..103fe35b5 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
+from .compat import import_file, importlib_metadata
 from .errors import Errors, Warnings, deprecation_warning
 
 
@@ -283,7 +283,8 @@ def get_entry_points(key):
     RETURNS (dict): Entry points, keyed by name.
     """
     result = {}
-    for entry_point in pkg_resources.iter_entry_points(key):
+    eps = importlib_metadata.entry_points()
+    for entry_point in eps.get(key, []):
         result[entry_point.name] = entry_point.load()
     return result
 
@@ -297,7 +298,8 @@ def get_entry_point(key, value, default=None):
     default: Optional default value to return.
     RETURNS: The loaded entry point or None.
     """
-    for entry_point in pkg_resources.iter_entry_points(key):
+    eps = importlib_metadata.entry_points()
+    for entry_point in eps.get(key, []):
         if entry_point.name == value:
             return entry_point.load()
     return default