diff --git a/changelog/11667.breaking.rst b/changelog/11667.breaking.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7c05d39b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/11667.breaking.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+pytest's ``setup.py`` file is removed.
+If you relied on this file, e.g. to install pytest using ``setup.py install``,
+please see `Why you shouldn't invoke setup.py directly <https://blog.ganssle.io/articles/2021/10/setup-py-deprecated.html#summary>`_ for alternatives.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index cdbdd3880..d45597b77 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 [build-system]
 requires = [
-  # sync with setup.py until we discard non-pep-517/518
   "setuptools>=45.0",
   "setuptools-scm[toml]>=6.2.3",
 ]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f1a1763c..000000000
--- a/setup.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-from setuptools import setup
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    setup()