diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-deps/action.yaml b/.github/actions/setup-deps/action.yaml
index 97112b09159..cbfd91df7e1 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-deps/action.yaml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-deps/action.yaml
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ inputs:
   dask:
     default: 'dask'
   distopia:
-    default: 'distopia>=0.2.0'
+    default: 'distopia>=0.2.0,<0.3.0'
   h5py:
     default: 'h5py>=2.10'
   hole2:
diff --git a/package/CHANGELOG b/package/CHANGELOG
index de7fddd2660..37c60672327 100644
--- a/package/CHANGELOG
+++ b/package/CHANGELOG
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ Enhancements
    DOI 10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b11988. (Issue #2039, PR #4524)
 
 Changes
+ * only use distopia < 0.3.0 due to API changes (Issue #4739)
  * The `fetch_mmtf` method has been removed as the REST API service
    for MMTF files has ceased to exist (Issue #4634)
  * MDAnalysis now builds against numpy 2.0 rather than the