diff --git a/requirements/dev-requirements.in b/requirements/dev-requirements.in
index aa86c12fc..d25bd6178 100644
--- a/requirements/dev-requirements.in
+++ b/requirements/dev-requirements.in
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ pytest-env
 pytest-xdist
 pytest-timeout
 pyftpdlib
+setuptools
diff --git a/requirements/dev-requirements.txt b/requirements/dev-requirements.txt
index f0d74d83f..a5973835a 100644
--- a/requirements/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ pytest-env==1.1.5
 pytest-xdist==3.6.1
 pytest-timeout==2.3.1
 pyftpdlib==2.0.1
+setuptools==75.6.0
 ## The following requirements were added by pip freeze:
 astroid==3.3.5
 dill==0.3.9
diff --git a/requirements/requirements.in b/requirements/requirements.in
index 8d9a8ec0b..129ec1b15 100644
--- a/requirements/requirements.in
+++ b/requirements/requirements.in
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 Click >= 7.0
 grpcio
 Jinja2 >= 2.10
+importlib_metadata >= 3.6; python_version < "3.10"
+packaging
 pluginbase
 protobuf >= 3.19
 psutil
 ruamel.yaml >= 0.16.7
 ruamel.yaml.clib >= 0.1.2
-setuptools
 pyroaring
 ujson
diff --git a/requirements/requirements.txt b/requirements/requirements.txt
index 5852fb750..910b71755 100644
--- a/requirements/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements/requirements.txt
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 click==8.1.7
 grpcio==1.68.0
 Jinja2==3.1.4
+packaging==24.2
 pluginbase==1.0.1
 protobuf==5.28.3
 psutil==6.1.0
 ruamel.yaml==0.18.6
 ruamel.yaml.clib==0.2.12
-setuptools==75.6.0
 pyroaring==1.0.0
 ujson==5.10.0
 ## The following requirements were added by pip freeze:
diff --git a/src/buildstream/_pluginfactory/pluginoriginpip.py b/src/buildstream/_pluginfactory/pluginoriginpip.py
index 3bded89ab..507339b7e 100644
--- a/src/buildstream/_pluginfactory/pluginoriginpip.py
+++ b/src/buildstream/_pluginfactory/pluginoriginpip.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #  limitations under the License.
 #
 import os
+import sys
 
 from .._exceptions import PluginError
 
@@ -32,14 +33,12 @@ def __init__(self):
 
     def get_plugin_paths(self, kind, plugin_type):
 
-        import pkg_resources
+        from packaging.requirements import Requirement, InvalidRequirement
 
-        try:
-            # For setuptools >= 70
-            import packaging
-        except ImportError:
-            # For setuptools < 70
-            from pkg_resources.extern import packaging
+        if sys.version_info >= (3, 10):
+            from importlib.metadata import distribution, PackageNotFoundError
+        else:
+            from importlib_metadata import distribution, PackageNotFoundError
 
         # Sources and elements are looked up in separate
         # entrypoint groups from the same package.
@@ -53,38 +52,38 @@ def get_plugin_paths(self, kind, plugin_type):
         else:
             assert False, "unreachable"
 
-        # key by a tuple to avoid collision
         try:
-            package = pkg_resources.get_entry_info(self._package_name, entrypoint_group, kind)
-        except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound as e:
+            package = Requirement(self._package_name)
+        except InvalidRequirement as e:
+            raise PluginError(
+                "{}: Malformed package-name '{}' encountered: {}".format(
+                    self.provenance_node.get_provenance(), self._package_name, e
+                ),
+                reason="package-malformed-requirement",
+            ) from e
+
+        try:
+            dist = distribution(package.name)
+        except PackageNotFoundError as e:
             raise PluginError(
                 "{}: Failed to load {} plugin '{}': {}".format(
                     self.provenance_node.get_provenance(), plugin_type, kind, e
                 ),
                 reason="package-not-found",
             ) from e
-        except pkg_resources.VersionConflict as e:
+
+        if dist.version not in package.specifier:
             raise PluginError(
                 "{}: Version conflict encountered while loading {} plugin '{}'".format(
                     self.provenance_node.get_provenance(), plugin_type, kind
                 ),
-                detail=e.report(),
+                detail="{} {} is installed but {} is required".format(dist.name, dist.version, package),
                 reason="package-version-conflict",
-            ) from e
-        except (
-            # For setuptools < 49.0.0
-            pkg_resources.RequirementParseError,
-            # For setuptools >= 49.0.0
-            packaging.requirements.InvalidRequirement,
-        ) as e:
-            raise PluginError(
-                "{}: Malformed package-name '{}' encountered: {}".format(
-                    self.provenance_node.get_provenance(), self._package_name, e
-                ),
-                reason="package-malformed-requirement",
-            ) from e
+            )
 
-        if package is None:
+        try:
+            entrypoint = dist.entry_points.select(group=entrypoint_group)[kind]
+        except KeyError as e:
             raise PluginError(
                 "{}: Pip package {} does not contain a {} plugin named '{}'".format(
                     self.provenance_node.get_provenance(), self._package_name, plugin_type, kind
@@ -92,24 +91,17 @@ def get_plugin_paths(self, kind, plugin_type):
                 reason="plugin-not-found",
             )
 
-        location = package.dist.get_resource_filename(
-            pkg_resources._manager, package.module_name.replace(".", os.sep) + ".py"
-        )
+        location = dist.locate_file(entrypoint.module.replace(".", os.sep) + ".py")
+        defaults = dist.locate_file(entrypoint.module.replace(".", os.sep) + ".yaml")
 
-        # Also load the defaults - required since setuptools
-        # may need to extract the file.
-        try:
-            defaults = package.dist.get_resource_filename(
-                pkg_resources._manager, package.module_name.replace(".", os.sep) + ".yaml"
-            )
-        except KeyError:
+        if not defaults.exists():
             # The plugin didn't have an accompanying YAML file
             defaults = None
 
         return (
             os.path.dirname(location),
-            defaults,
-            "python package '{}' at: {}".format(package.dist, package.dist.location),
+            str(defaults),
+            "python package '{}' at: {}".format(dist, dist.locate_file("")),
         )
 
     def load_config(self, origin_node):