diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index fa180f8f02..0fffbe7fb9 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ xmatch
 Infrastructure, Utility and Other Changes and Additions
 -------------------------------------------------------
 
+- Removed usage of the astropy TestRunner, therefore the unadvertised
+  ``astroquery.test()`` functionality. [#3215]
+
 
 0.4.9 (2025-01-24)
 ==================
diff --git a/astroquery/__init__.py b/astroquery/__init__.py
index ee03665772..2e7b5a0468 100644
--- a/astroquery/__init__.py
+++ b/astroquery/__init__.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 # Affiliated packages may add whatever they like to this file, but
 # should keep this content at the top.
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-from ._astropy_init import __version__, __githash__, test
+from ._astropy_init import __version__, __githash__
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 import os
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 from .logger import _init_log
 from astropy import config as _config
 
-__all__ = ["__version__", "__githash__", "__citation__", "__bibtex__", "test", "log"]
+__all__ = ["__version__", "__githash__", "__citation__", "__bibtex__", "log"]
 
 
 # Set the bibtex entry to the article referenced in CITATION.
diff --git a/astroquery/_astropy_init.py b/astroquery/_astropy_init.py
index d7a772d09d..add70934ac 100644
--- a/astroquery/_astropy_init.py
+++ b/astroquery/_astropy_init.py
@@ -21,13 +21,3 @@
     from .version import githash as __githash__
 except ImportError:
     __githash__ = ''
-
-
-if not _ASTROPY_SETUP_:  # noqa
-    import os
-
-    # Create the test function for self test
-    from astropy.tests.runner import TestRunner
-    test = TestRunner.make_test_runner_in(os.path.dirname(__file__))
-    test.__test__ = False
-    __all__ += ['test']
diff --git a/astroquery/conftest.py b/astroquery/conftest.py
deleted file mode 100644
index b5eaf043b3..0000000000
--- a/astroquery/conftest.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,78 +0,0 @@
-# Licensed under a 3-clause BSD style license - see LICENSE.rst
-import os
-from pathlib import Path
-
-from astropy.utils import minversion
-import numpy as np
-import pytest
-# this contains imports plugins that configure py.test for astropy tests.
-# by importing them here in conftest.py they are discoverable by py.test
-# no matter how it is invoked within the source tree.
-
-from pytest_astropy_header.display import (PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES,
-                                           TESTED_VERSIONS)
-
-
-# Keep this until we require numpy to be >=2.0
-if minversion(np, "2.0.0.dev0+git20230726"):
-    np.set_printoptions(legacy="1.25")
-
-
-def pytest_configure(config):
-    config.option.astropy_header = True
-
-
-# Add astropy to test header information and remove unused packages.
-# Pytest header customisation was introduced in astropy 1.0.
-
-try:
-    PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['Astropy'] = 'astropy'
-    PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['regions'] = 'regions'
-    PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['pyVO'] = 'pyvo'
-    PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['mocpy'] = 'mocpy'
-    PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['astropy-healpix'] = 'astropy_healpix'
-    PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['vamdclib'] = 'vamdclib'
-
-    # keyring doesn't provide __version__ any more
-    # PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['keyring'] = 'keyring'
-    del PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['h5py']
-    del PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['Scipy']
-    del PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['Pandas']
-except (NameError, KeyError):
-    pass
-
-# add '_testrun' to the version name so that the user-agent indicates that
-# it's being run in a test
-from . import version
-version.version += '_testrun'
-
-
-# This is to figure out the affiliated package version, rather than
-# using Astropy's
-from .version import version, astropy_helpers_version
-
-
-packagename = os.path.basename(os.path.dirname(__file__))
-TESTED_VERSIONS[packagename] = version
-TESTED_VERSIONS['astropy_helpers'] = astropy_helpers_version
-
-
-def pytest_addoption(parser):
-    parser.addoption(
-        '--alma-site',
-        action='store',
-        default='almascience.eso.org',
-        help='ALMA site (almascience.nrao.edu, almascience.eso.org or '
-             'almascience.nao.ac.jp for example)'
-    )
-
-
-@pytest.fixture(scope='function')
-def tmp_cwd(tmp_path):
-    """Perform test in a pristine temporary working directory."""
-    old_dir = Path.cwd()
-    os.chdir(tmp_path)
-    try:
-        yield tmp_path
-    finally:
-        os.chdir(old_dir)
diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
index 1ce60f20af..423303ba96 100644
--- a/conftest.py
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 # Licensed under a 3-clause BSD style license - see LICENSE.rst
 
-import numpy as np
-from astropy.utils import minversion
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
 
+from astropy.utils import minversion
+import numpy as np
+import pytest
 from pytest_astropy_header.display import (PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES,
                                            TESTED_VERSIONS)
 
@@ -22,6 +25,10 @@ def pytest_configure(config):
     PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['astropy-healpix'] = 'astropy_healpix'
     PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['vamdclib'] = 'vamdclib'
 
+    del PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['h5py']
+    del PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['Scipy']
+    del PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['Pandas']
+
     # keyring doesn't provide __version__ any more
     # PYTEST_HEADER_MODULES['keyring'] = 'keyring'
 
@@ -32,3 +39,24 @@ def pytest_configure(config):
 
     TESTED_VERSIONS['astroquery'] = version.version
     TESTED_VERSIONS['astropy_helpers'] = version.astropy_helpers_version
+
+
+def pytest_addoption(parser):
+    parser.addoption(
+        '--alma-site',
+        action='store',
+        default='almascience.eso.org',
+        help='ALMA site (almascience.nrao.edu, almascience.eso.org or '
+             'almascience.nao.ac.jp for example)'
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope='function')
+def tmp_cwd(tmp_path):
+    """Perform test in a pristine temporary working directory."""
+    old_dir = Path.cwd()
+    os.chdir(tmp_path)
+    try:
+        yield tmp_path
+    finally:
+        os.chdir(old_dir)