diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 9a6846480..36c07311e 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ python:
 # command to install dependencies, e.g. pip install -r requirements.txt --use-mirrors
 install: pip install -U tox-travis
 
-# command to run tests, e.g. python setup.py test
+# command to run tests, e.g. python -m unittest discover
 script: tox
 
 # deploy new versions to PyPI
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index b1e9d7199..787ceb70a 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Cookiecutter_ template for a Python package.
 Features
 --------
 
-* Testing setup with ``unittest`` and ``python setup.py test`` or ``pytest``
+* Testing setup with ``unittest`` or ``pytest``
 * Travis-CI_: Ready for Travis Continuous Integration testing
 * Tox_ testing: Setup to easily test for Python 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8
 * Sphinx_ docs: Documentation ready for generation with, for example, ReadTheDocs_
diff --git a/tests/test_bake_project.py b/tests/test_bake_project.py
index f50426273..c6bb0c3ba 100644
--- a/tests/test_bake_project.py
+++ b/tests/test_bake_project.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ def test_bake_with_defaults(cookies):
 def test_bake_and_run_tests(cookies):
     with bake_in_temp_dir(cookies) as result:
         assert result.project.isdir()
-        run_inside_dir('python setup.py test', str(result.project)) == 0
+        run_inside_dir('python -m unittest discover', str(result.project)) == 0
         print("test_bake_and_run_tests path", str(result.project))
 
 
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ def test_bake_withspecialchars_and_run_tests(cookies):
         extra_context={'full_name': 'name "quote" name'}
     ) as result:
         assert result.project.isdir()
-        run_inside_dir('python setup.py test', str(result.project)) == 0
+        run_inside_dir('python setup.py --help', str(result.project)) == 0
 
 
 def test_bake_with_apostrophe_and_run_tests(cookies):
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ def test_bake_with_apostrophe_and_run_tests(cookies):
         extra_context={'full_name': "O'connor"}
     ) as result:
         assert result.project.isdir()
-        run_inside_dir('python setup.py test', str(result.project)) == 0
+        run_inside_dir('python setup.py --help', str(result.project)) == 0
 
 
 # def test_bake_and_run_travis_pypi_setup(cookies):
@@ -220,12 +220,10 @@ def test_using_pytest(cookies):
         lines = test_file_path.readlines()
         assert "import pytest" in ''.join(lines)
         # Test the new pytest target
-        run_inside_dir('python setup.py pytest', str(result.project)) == 0
-        # Test the test alias (which invokes pytest)
-        run_inside_dir('python setup.py test', str(result.project)) == 0
+        run_inside_dir('python -m pytest ./tests', str(result.project)) == 0
 
 
-def test_not_using_pytest(cookies):
+def test_using_unittest(cookies):
     with bake_in_temp_dir(cookies) as result:
         assert result.project.isdir()
         test_file_path = result.project.join(
@@ -234,6 +232,8 @@ def test_not_using_pytest(cookies):
         lines = test_file_path.readlines()
         assert "import unittest" in ''.join(lines)
         assert "import pytest" not in ''.join(lines)
+        # Run tests using unittest
+        run_inside_dir('python -m unittest discover', str(result.project)) == 0
 
 
 # def test_project_with_hyphen_in_module_name(cookies):
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.travis.yml b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.travis.yml
index 0261898af..0316d9c05 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.travis.yml
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.travis.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ python:
 # Command to install dependencies, e.g. pip install -r requirements.txt --use-mirrors
 install: pip install -U tox-travis
 
-# Command to run tests, e.g. python setup.py test
+# Command to run tests, e.g. tox
 script: tox
 
 {% if cookiecutter.use_pypi_deployment_with_travis == 'y' -%}
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/CONTRIBUTING.rst b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/CONTRIBUTING.rst
index b0eb5832b..693b47e24 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/CONTRIBUTING.rst
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/CONTRIBUTING.rst
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ Ready to contribute? Here's how to set up `{{ cookiecutter.project_slug }}` for
    tests, including testing other Python versions with tox::
 
     $ flake8 {{ cookiecutter.project_slug }} tests
-    $ python setup.py test or pytest
+    $ python -m pytest ./tests
     $ tox
 
    To get flake8 and tox, just pip install them into your virtualenv.
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/Makefile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/Makefile
index c63920dbc..37ff72d8b 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/Makefile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/Makefile
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ test: ## run tests quickly with the default Python
 {%- if cookiecutter.use_pytest == 'y' %}
 	pytest
 {%- else %}
-	python setup.py test
+	python -m unittest discover
 {%- endif %}
 
 test-all: ## run tests on every Python version with tox
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ coverage: ## check code coverage quickly with the default Python
 {%- if cookiecutter.use_pytest == 'y' %}
 	coverage run --source {{ cookiecutter.project_slug }} -m pytest
 {%- else %}
-	coverage run --source {{ cookiecutter.project_slug }} setup.py test
+	coverage run --source {{ cookiecutter.project_slug }} -m unittest discover
 {%- endif %}
 	coverage report -m
 	coverage html
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.cfg b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.cfg
index f94db5237..6ead381a2 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.cfg
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.cfg
@@ -19,10 +19,3 @@ exclude = docs
 
 [aliases]
 # Define setup.py command aliases here
-{%- if cookiecutter.use_pytest == 'y' %}
-test = pytest
-
-[tool:pytest]
-collect_ignore = ['setup.py']
-{%- endif %}
-
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.py b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.py
index 04054e7fd..368e4d9a3 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.py
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.py
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@
 
 requirements = [{%- if cookiecutter.command_line_interface|lower == 'click' %}'Click>=7.0',{%- endif %} ]
 
-setup_requirements = [{%- if cookiecutter.use_pytest == 'y' %}'pytest-runner',{%- endif %} ]
-
-test_requirements = [{%- if cookiecutter.use_pytest == 'y' %}'pytest>=3',{%- endif %} ]
 
 {%- set license_classifiers = {
     'MIT license': 'License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License',
@@ -58,9 +55,6 @@
     keywords='{{ cookiecutter.project_slug }}',
     name='{{ cookiecutter.project_slug }}',
     packages=find_packages(include=['{{ cookiecutter.project_slug }}', '{{ cookiecutter.project_slug }}.*']),
-    setup_requires=setup_requirements,
-    test_suite='tests',
-    tests_require=test_requirements,
     url='https://github.com/{{ cookiecutter.github_username }}/{{ cookiecutter.project_slug }}',
     version='{{ cookiecutter.version }}',
     zip_safe=False,
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tox.ini b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tox.ini
index acb47eb7d..ab06faf66 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tox.ini
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/tox.ini
@@ -16,15 +16,15 @@ commands = flake8 {{ cookiecutter.project_slug }} tests
 [testenv]
 setenv =
     PYTHONPATH = {toxinidir}
-{% if cookiecutter.use_pytest == 'y' -%}
 deps =
     -r{toxinidir}/requirements_dev.txt
 ; If you want to make tox run the tests with the same versions, create a
 ; requirements.txt with the pinned versions and uncomment the following line:
 ;     -r{toxinidir}/requirements.txt
+{% if cookiecutter.use_pytest == 'y' -%}
 commands =
     pip install -U pip
     pytest --basetemp={envtmpdir}
 {% else %}
-commands = python setup.py test
+commands = python -m unittest discover
 {%- endif %}