diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/paramiko-optional.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/paramiko-optional.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..142df87ee31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/paramiko-optional.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+minor_changes:
+  - paramiko is now optional.  There is no compat package on certain platforms to worry about.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/compat/paramiko.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/compat/paramiko.py
index 12d75dd5ccc..89080572f45 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/compat/paramiko.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/compat/paramiko.py
@@ -10,10 +10,5 @@ PARAMIKO_IMPORT_ERR = None
 paramiko = None
 try:
     import paramiko
-except ImportError:
-    try:
-        import ansible_paramiko as paramiko
-    except (ImportError, AttributeError) as err:  # paramiko and gssapi are incompatible and raise AttributeError not ImportError
-        PARAMIKO_IMPORT_ERR = err
-except AttributeError as err:  # paramiko and gssapi are incompatible and raise AttributeError not ImportError
+except (ImportError, AttributeError) as err:  # paramiko and gssapi are incompatible and raise AttributeError not ImportError
     PARAMIKO_IMPORT_ERR = err