diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-freebsd-bootstrap-setuptools.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-freebsd-bootstrap-setuptools.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bbf280fd4c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-freebsd-bootstrap-setuptools.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - ansible-test - When bootstrapping remote FreeBSD instances, use the OS packaged ``setuptools`` instead of installing the latest version from PyPI.
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh b/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh
index 0427aac64fc..049d7736713 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ bootstrap_remote_freebsd()
 
     packages="
         python${python_package_version}
+        py${python_package_version}-setuptools
         ${virtualenv_pkg}
         bash
         curl