diff --git a/ci/freebsd/prepare.sh b/ci/freebsd/prepare.sh
index 17b95c5141..6c0bfc2896 100755
--- a/ci/freebsd/prepare.sh
+++ b/ci/freebsd/prepare.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ env ASSUME_ALWAYS_YES=YES pkg bootstrap
 pkg install -y bash git cmake swig bison python3 base64 flex ccache
 pkg upgrade -y curl
 pyver=$(python3 -c 'import sys; print(f"py{sys.version_info[0]}{sys.version_info[1]}")')
-pkg install -y $pyver-sqlite3 $pyver-pip
+pkg install -y $pyver-sqlite3
+python -m ensurepip --upgrade
 
 python -m pip install websockets junit2html