diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 4cb8b739..c54572bf 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,8 +15,10 @@ name = "jsonrpc"
 path = "src/lib.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
+base64-compat = "1.0.0"
+http = "0.1"
+
 serde = "1"
 serde_derive = "1"
 serde_json = "1"
-hyper = "0.10"
 
diff --git a/src/client.rs b/src/client.rs
index 6daf803f..cb784aab 100644
--- a/src/client.rs
+++ b/src/client.rs
@@ -18,33 +18,50 @@
 //! and parsing responses
 //!
 
+use std::{error, io};
 use std::collections::HashMap;
-use std::io;
-use std::io::Read;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 
-use hyper;
-use hyper::client::Client as HyperClient;
-use hyper::header::{Authorization, Basic, ContentType, Headers};
 use serde;
+use base64;
+use http;
 use serde_json;
 
 use super::{Request, Response};
 use util::HashableValue;
 use error::Error;
 
+/// An interface for an HTTP roundtripper that handles HTTP requests.
+pub trait HttpRoundTripper {
+    /// The type of the http::Response body.
+    type ResponseBody: io::Read;
+    /// The type for errors generated by the roundtripper.
+    type Err: error::Error;
+
+    /// Make an HTTP request.  In practice only POST request will be made.
+    fn request(
+        &self,
+        http::Request<&[u8]>,
+    ) -> Result<http::Response<Self::ResponseBody>, Self::Err>;
+}
+
 /// A handle to a remote JSONRPC server
-pub struct Client {
+pub struct Client<R: HttpRoundTripper> {
     url: String,
     user: Option<String>,
     pass: Option<String>,
-    client: HyperClient,
+    roundtripper: R,
     nonce: Arc<Mutex<u64>>,
 }
 
-impl Client {
+impl<Rt: HttpRoundTripper + 'static> Client<Rt> {
     /// Creates a new client
-    pub fn new(url: String, user: Option<String>, pass: Option<String>) -> Client {
+    pub fn new(
+        roundtripper: Rt,
+        url: String,
+        user: Option<String>,
+        pass: Option<String>,
+    ) -> Client<Rt> {
         // Check that if we have a password, we have a username; other way around is ok
         debug_assert!(pass.is_none() || user.is_some());
 
@@ -52,7 +69,7 @@ impl Client {
             url: url,
             user: user,
             pass: pass,
-            client: HyperClient::new(),
+            roundtripper: roundtripper,
             nonce: Arc::new(Mutex::new(0)),
         }
     }
@@ -78,52 +95,30 @@ impl Client {
         // Build request
         let request_raw = serde_json::to_vec(body)?;
 
-        // Setup connection
-        let mut headers = Headers::new();
-        headers.set(ContentType::json());
+        // Send request
+        let mut request_builder = http::Request::post(&self.url);
+        request_builder.header("Content-Type", "application/json-rpc");
+
+        // Set Authorization header
         if let Some(ref user) = self.user {
-            headers.set(Authorization(Basic {
-                username: user.clone(),
-                password: self.pass.clone(),
-            }));
+            let mut auth = user.clone();
+            auth.push(':');
+            if let Some(ref pass) = self.pass {
+                auth.push_str(&pass[..]);
+            }
+            let value = format!("Basic {}", &base64::encode(auth.as_bytes()));
+            request_builder.header("Authorization", value);
         }
 
-        // Send request
-        let retry_headers = headers.clone();
-        let hyper_request = self.client.post(&self.url).headers(headers).body(&request_raw[..]);
-        let mut stream = match hyper_request.send() {
-            Ok(s) => s,
-            // Hyper maintains a pool of TCP connections to its various clients,
-            // and when one drops it cannot tell until it tries sending. In this
-            // case the appropriate thing is to re-send, which will cause hyper
-            // to open a new connection. Jonathan Reem explained this to me on
-            // IRC, citing vague technical reasons that the library itself cannot
-            // do the retry transparently.
-            Err(hyper::error::Error::Io(e)) => {
-                if e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::BrokenPipe
-                    || e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::ConnectionAborted
-                {
-                    try!(self
-                        .client
-                        .post(&self.url)
-                        .headers(retry_headers)
-                        .body(&request_raw[..])
-                        .send()
-                        .map_err(Error::Hyper))
-                } else {
-                    return Err(Error::Hyper(hyper::error::Error::Io(e)));
-                }
-            }
-            Err(e) => {
-                return Err(Error::Hyper(e));
-            }
-        };
+        // Errors only on invalid header or builder reuse.
+        let http_request = request_builder.body(&request_raw[..]).unwrap();
+
+        let http_response =
+            self.roundtripper.request(http_request).map_err(|e| Error::Http(Box::new(e)))?;
 
         // nb we ignore stream.status since we expect the body
         // to contain information about any error
-        let response: R = serde_json::from_reader(&mut stream)?;
-        stream.bytes().count(); // Drain the stream so it can be reused
-        Ok(response)
+        Ok(serde_json::from_reader(http_response.into_body())?)
     }
 
     /// Sends a request to a client
@@ -204,10 +199,24 @@ impl Client {
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
+    use std::io;
+
+    struct RT();
+    impl HttpRoundTripper for RT {
+        type ResponseBody = io::Empty;
+        type Err = io::Error;
+
+        fn request(
+            &self,
+            _: http::Request<&[u8]>,
+        ) -> Result<http::Response<Self::ResponseBody>, Self::Err> {
+            Err(io::ErrorKind::Other.into())
+        }
+    }
 
     #[test]
     fn sanity() {
-        let client = Client::new("localhost".to_owned(), None, None);
+        let client = Client::new(RT(), "localhost".to_owned(), None, None);
         assert_eq!(client.last_nonce(), 0);
         let req1 = client.build_request("test", &[]);
         assert_eq!(client.last_nonce(), 1);
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index 7fc6e76b..5ff19119 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
 use std::{error, fmt};
 
-use hyper;
 use serde_json;
 
 use Response;
@@ -29,8 +28,8 @@ use Response;
 pub enum Error {
     /// Json error
     Json(serde_json::Error),
-    /// Client error
-    Hyper(hyper::error::Error),
+    /// HTTP client error
+    Http(Box<error::Error>),
     /// Error response
     Rpc(RpcError),
     /// Response to a request did not have the expected nonce
@@ -53,12 +52,6 @@ impl From<serde_json::Error> for Error {
     }
 }
 
-impl From<hyper::error::Error> for Error {
-    fn from(e: hyper::error::Error) -> Error {
-        Error::Hyper(e)
-    }
-}
-
 impl From<RpcError> for Error {
     fn from(e: RpcError) -> Error {
         Error::Rpc(e)
@@ -69,7 +62,7 @@ impl fmt::Display for Error {
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
         match *self {
             Error::Json(ref e) => write!(f, "JSON decode error: {}", e),
-            Error::Hyper(ref e) => write!(f, "Hyper error: {}", e),
+            Error::Http(ref e) => write!(f, "HTTP error: {}", e),
             Error::Rpc(ref r) => write!(f, "RPC error response: {:?}", r),
             Error::BatchDuplicateResponseId(ref v) => {
                 write!(f, "duplicate RPC batch response ID: {}", v)
@@ -84,7 +77,7 @@ impl error::Error for Error {
     fn description(&self) -> &str {
         match *self {
             Error::Json(_) => "JSON decode error",
-            Error::Hyper(_) => "Hyper error",
+            Error::Http(_) => "HTTP error",
             Error::Rpc(_) => "RPC error response",
             Error::NonceMismatch => "Nonce of response did not match nonce of request",
             Error::VersionMismatch => "`jsonrpc` field set to non-\"2.0\"",
@@ -100,7 +93,7 @@ impl error::Error for Error {
     fn cause(&self) -> Option<&error::Error> {
         match *self {
             Error::Json(ref e) => Some(e),
-            Error::Hyper(ref e) => Some(e),
+            Error::Http(ref e) => Some(&**e),
             _ => None,
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index e75554a5..b21e6482 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@
 #![deny(unused_mut)]
 #![warn(missing_docs)]
 
-extern crate hyper;
-
+extern crate base64;
+extern crate http;
 extern crate serde;
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate serde_derive;