diff --git a/docs/requirements.txt b/docs/requirements.txt
index 26c5fac61..d1abb074d 100644
--- a/docs/requirements.txt
+++ b/docs/requirements.txt
@@ -5,5 +5,4 @@ sphinx_rtd_theme
 docutils
 myst-parser
 configargparse
-appdirs
-psutil
\ No newline at end of file
+appdirs
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/snakemake/benchmark.py b/snakemake/benchmark.py
index 0e47905bf..b59c2a4ca 100644
--- a/snakemake/benchmark.py
+++ b/snakemake/benchmark.py
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@
 import time
 import threading
 
-import psutil
-
 from snakemake.exceptions import WorkflowError
 
 
@@ -192,6 +190,7 @@ class BenchmarkTimer(ScheduledPeriodicTimer):
     """Allows easy observation of a given PID for resource usage"""
 
     def __init__(self, pid, bench_record, interval=BENCHMARK_INTERVAL):
+        import psutil
         ScheduledPeriodicTimer.__init__(self, interval)
         #: PID of observed process
         self.pid = pid
@@ -203,6 +202,7 @@ def __init__(self, pid, bench_record, interval=BENCHMARK_INTERVAL):
 
     def work(self):
         """Write statistics"""
+        import psutil
         try:
             self._update_record()
         except psutil.NoSuchProcess:
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ def work(self):
 
     def _update_record(self):
         """Perform the actual measurement"""
+        import psutil
         # Memory measurements
         rss, vms, uss, pss = 0, 0, 0, 0
         # I/O measurements