diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 264789a1..253a64bd 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ requires = [
   "packaging>=20",
   "setuptools>=55",
   'tomli; python_version < "3.11"',
-  "typing_extensions",
+  'typing_extensions; python_version < "3.8"',
 ]
 
 [project]
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "packaging>=20",
   "setuptools",
   'tomli>=1; python_version < "3.11"',
-  "typing-extensions",
+  'typing-extensions; python_version < "3.11"',
 ]
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 rich = [
diff --git a/src/setuptools_scm/_entrypoints.py b/src/setuptools_scm/_entrypoints.py
index 62a18e13..a2619c66 100644
--- a/src/setuptools_scm/_entrypoints.py
+++ b/src/setuptools_scm/_entrypoints.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import sys
 from typing import Any
 from typing import Callable
 from typing import cast
@@ -7,7 +8,10 @@
 from typing import overload
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
-from typing_extensions import Protocol
+if sys.version_info[:2] >= (3, 8):
+    from typing import Protocol
+else:
+    from typing_extensions import Protocol
 
 from . import _log
 from . import version
diff --git a/src/setuptools_scm/_file_finders/__init__.py b/src/setuptools_scm/_file_finders/__init__.py
index 5e3304a3..90726c45 100644
--- a/src/setuptools_scm/_file_finders/__init__.py
+++ b/src/setuptools_scm/_file_finders/__init__.py
@@ -3,13 +3,16 @@
 import itertools
 import os
 from typing import Callable
-
-from typing_extensions import TypeGuard
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
 from .. import _log
 from .. import _types as _t
 from .._entrypoints import iter_entry_points
 
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from typing_extensions import TypeGuard
+
+
 log = _log.log.getChild("file_finder")
 
 
diff --git a/src/setuptools_scm/_integration/pyproject_reading.py b/src/setuptools_scm/_integration/pyproject_reading.py
index 8730c0ec..db880a82 100644
--- a/src/setuptools_scm/_integration/pyproject_reading.py
+++ b/src/setuptools_scm/_integration/pyproject_reading.py
@@ -7,11 +7,13 @@
 from typing import Callable
 from typing import Dict
 from typing import NamedTuple
-
-from typing_extensions import TypeAlias
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
 from .setuptools import read_dist_name_from_setup_cfg
 
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from typing_extensions import TypeAlias
+
 _ROOT = "root"
 TOML_RESULT: TypeAlias = Dict[str, Any]
 TOML_LOADER: TypeAlias = Callable[[str], TOML_RESULT]
diff --git a/src/setuptools_scm/_types.py b/src/setuptools_scm/_types.py
index fdcd2dd5..df8fa945 100644
--- a/src/setuptools_scm/_types.py
+++ b/src/setuptools_scm/_types.py
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 from typing import Union
 
-from typing_extensions import TypeAlias
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from typing_extensions import TypeAlias
     from . import version
 
 PathT: TypeAlias = Union["os.PathLike[str]", str]
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index b7c01231..480d0adb 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ deps=
     pytest
     setuptools >= 45
     virtualenv>20
-    typing_extensions
 commands=
     pytest []
 
@@ -39,7 +38,7 @@ deps=
     check-manifest
     docutils
     pygments
-    typing_extensions
+    typing_extensions; python_version<'3.8'
     hatchling
 commands=
     rst2html.py README.rst {envlogdir}/README.html --strict []