diff --git a/benchmarks/backwards_ecal/config.yml b/benchmarks/backwards_ecal/config.yml
index 9eff9b58..c2a9a0f7 100644
--- a/benchmarks/backwards_ecal/config.yml
+++ b/benchmarks/backwards_ecal/config.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ bench:backwards_ecal:
   needs:
     - ["sim:backwards_ecal"]
   script:
-    - export PYTHONUSERBASE=$LOCAL_DATA_PATH/deps
+    - unset PYTHONPATH
+    - python -m venv .venv; source .venv/bin/activate
     - pip install -r benchmarks/backwards_ecal/requirements.txt
     - snakemake --cores 1 backwards_ecal
 
diff --git a/benchmarks/ecal_gaps/config.yml b/benchmarks/ecal_gaps/config.yml
index 9d967c87..4a5eb7c2 100644
--- a/benchmarks/ecal_gaps/config.yml
+++ b/benchmarks/ecal_gaps/config.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ bench:ecal_gaps:
     - ["sim:ecal_gaps"]
   script:
     - ln -s $LOCAL_DATA_PATH/input input
-    - export PYTHONUSERBASE=$LOCAL_DATA_PATH/deps
+    - unset PYTHONPATH
+    - python -m venv .venv; source .venv/bin/activate
     - pip install -r benchmarks/ecal_gaps/requirements.txt
     - snakemake --cores 8 ecal_gaps