diff --git a/python/CMakeLists.txt b/python/CMakeLists.txt
index 07850a30..8bf1f50a 100644
--- a/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,17 +12,41 @@ add_custom_target(python
     DEPENDS opendht opendht_cpp.pxd opendht.pyx pyproject.toml
             ${CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/opendht/__init__.py
             ${CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/opendht/aio.py)
+set(_pip_commands 
+    "${Python3_EXECUTABLE};-m;pip;install;--no-deps;--break-system-packages;${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}"
+    "${Python3_EXECUTABLE};-m;pip;install;--no-deps;${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}"
+    "pip3;install;--no-deps;--break-system-packages;${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}"
+    "pip;install;--no-deps;--break-system-packages;${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}")
 
 install(CODE [[
-    execute_process(
-        COMMAND "${Python3_EXECUTABLE}" -m pip install --no-deps --break-system-packages "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}"
-        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
-        OUTPUT_VARIABLE _pip_output
-        ERROR_VARIABLE _pip_output
-        RESULT_VARIABLE _pip_result)
-    message(STATUS ${_pip_output})
-    if(NOT _pip_result EQUAL 0)
-        message(FATAL_ERROR "pip install failed with code ${_pip_result}")
+    # Try different pip installation methods
+    
+    set(_success FALSE)
+    foreach(_cmd_list ${_pip_commands})
+        string(REPLACE ";" " " _cmd_str "${_cmd_list}")
+        message(STATUS "Attempting: ${_cmd_str}")
+        
+        execute_process(
+            COMMAND ${_cmd_list}
+            WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
+            OUTPUT_VARIABLE _pip_output
+            ERROR_VARIABLE _pip_error
+            RESULT_VARIABLE _pip_result)
+            
+        if(_pip_result EQUAL 0)
+            message(STATUS "Successfully installed Python package")
+            message(STATUS "Output: ${_pip_output}")
+            set(_success TRUE)
+            break()
+        else()
+            message(WARNING "Command failed with code ${_pip_result}")
+            message(WARNING "Output: ${_pip_output}")
+            message(WARNING "Error: ${_pip_error}")
+        endif()
+    endforeach()
+    
+    if(NOT _success)
+        message(FATAL_ERROR "All pip install attempts failed. Check that pip is available and the wheel was built correctly.")
     endif()
 ]])
 if (OPENDHT_TOOLS)
diff --git a/python/pyproject.toml b/python/pyproject.toml
index 76f70ed3..f8936c8a 100644
--- a/python/pyproject.toml
+++ b/python/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools", "wheel", "Cython", "build"]
+requires = ["setuptools", "wheel", "Cython"]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [tool.cibuildwheel]