diff --git a/synapse/_pydantic_compat.py b/synapse/_pydantic_compat.py
index 2318fa74d427..b600c502fc5d 100644
--- a/synapse/_pydantic_compat.py
+++ b/synapse/_pydantic_compat.py
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 from packaging.version import Version
-from pydantic import __version__ as pydantic_version
+
+try:
+    from pydantic import __version__ as pydantic_version
+except ImportError:
+    import importlib.metadata
+
+    pydantic_version = importlib.metadata.version("pydantic")
 
 HAS_PYDANTIC_V2: bool = Version(pydantic_version).major == 2