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 00000000000000..bbf280fd4c14d4
--- /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 241c3be02d27ab..ea17dad38751cc 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ bootstrap_remote_freebsd()
     packages="
         python${python_package_version}
         py${python_package_version}-sqlite3
+        py${python_package_version}-setuptools
         bash
         curl
         gtar