diff --git a/appservice/appservice.go b/appservice/appservice.go
index f608e8e76..782e090a1 100644
--- a/appservice/appservice.go
+++ b/appservice/appservice.go
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ package appservice
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"crypto/tls"
+	"net/http"
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/gorilla/mux"
 	appserviceAPI "github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/api"
@@ -46,7 +49,15 @@ func NewInternalAPI(
 	userAPI userapi.UserInternalAPI,
 	rsAPI roomserverAPI.RoomserverInternalAPI,
 ) appserviceAPI.AppServiceQueryAPI {
-	client := base.CreateAppserviceClient()
+	client := &http.Client{
+		Timeout: time.Second * 30,
+		Transport: &http.Transport{
+			DisableKeepAlives: true,
+			TLSClientConfig: &tls.Config{
+				InsecureSkipVerify: base.Cfg.AppServiceAPI.DisableTLSValidation,
+			},
+		},
+	}
 	consumer, _ := kafka.SetupConsumerProducer(&base.Cfg.Global.Kafka)
 
 	// Create a connection to the appservice postgres DB
diff --git a/appservice/query/query.go b/appservice/query/query.go
index b4c335287..9f6c79a80 100644
--- a/appservice/query/query.go
+++ b/appservice/query/query.go
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/api"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/setup/config"
-	"github.com/matrix-org/gomatrixserverlib"
 	opentracing "github.com/opentracing/opentracing-go"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ const userIDExistsPath = "/users/"
 
 // AppServiceQueryAPI is an implementation of api.AppServiceQueryAPI
 type AppServiceQueryAPI struct {
-	HTTPClient *gomatrixserverlib.Client
+	HTTPClient *http.Client
 	Cfg        *config.Dendrite
 }
 
@@ -63,7 +62,7 @@ func (a *AppServiceQueryAPI) RoomAliasExists(
 			}
 			req = req.WithContext(ctx)
 
-			resp, err := a.HTTPClient.DoHTTPRequest(ctx, req)
+			resp, err := a.HTTPClient.Do(req)
 			if resp != nil {
 				defer func() {
 					err = resp.Body.Close()
@@ -124,7 +123,7 @@ func (a *AppServiceQueryAPI) UserIDExists(
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			resp, err := a.HTTPClient.DoHTTPRequest(ctx, req)
+			resp, err := a.HTTPClient.Do(req.WithContext(ctx))
 			if resp != nil {
 				defer func() {
 					err = resp.Body.Close()
diff --git a/appservice/workers/transaction_scheduler.go b/appservice/workers/transaction_scheduler.go
index 47d447c2c..4dab00bd7 100644
--- a/appservice/workers/transaction_scheduler.go
+++ b/appservice/workers/transaction_scheduler.go
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ var (
 // size), then send that off to the AS's /transactions/{txnID} endpoint. It also
 // handles exponentially backing off in case the AS isn't currently available.
 func SetupTransactionWorkers(
-	client *gomatrixserverlib.Client,
+	client *http.Client,
 	appserviceDB storage.Database,
 	workerStates []types.ApplicationServiceWorkerState,
 ) error {
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ func SetupTransactionWorkers(
 
 // worker is a goroutine that sends any queued events to the application service
 // it is given.
-func worker(client *gomatrixserverlib.Client, db storage.Database, ws types.ApplicationServiceWorkerState) {
+func worker(client *http.Client, db storage.Database, ws types.ApplicationServiceWorkerState) {
 	log.WithFields(log.Fields{
 		"appservice": ws.AppService.ID,
 	}).Info("Starting application service")
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ func createTransaction(
 // send sends events to an application service. Returns an error if an OK was not
 // received back from the application service or the request timed out.
 func send(
-	client *gomatrixserverlib.Client,
+	client *http.Client,
 	appservice config.ApplicationService,
 	txnID int,
 	transaction []byte,
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ func send(
 		return err
 	}
 	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-	resp, err := client.DoHTTPRequest(context.TODO(), req)
+	resp, err := client.Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 351acc536..8bfeeee38 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -866,8 +866,6 @@ github.com/shurcooL/webdavfs v0.0.0-20170829043945-18c3829fa133/go.mod h1:hKmq5k
 github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.2.0/go.mod h1:LxeOpSwHxABJmUn/MG1IvRgCAasNZTLOkJPxbbu5VWo=
 github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.4.2/go.mod h1:tLMulIdttU9McNUspp0xgXVQah82FyeX6MwdIuYE2rE=
 github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.6.0/go.mod h1:7uNnSEd1DgxDLC74fIahvMZmmYsHGZGEOFrfsX/uA88=
-github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.7.0 h1:ShrD1U9pZB12TX0cVy0DtePoCH97K8EtX+mg7ZARUtM=
-github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.7.0/go.mod h1:yWOB1SBYBC5VeMP7gHvWumXLIWorT60ONWic61uBYv0=
 github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.8.0 h1:nfhvjKcUMhBMVqbKHJlk5RPrrfYr/NMo3692g0dwfWU=
 github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.8.0/go.mod h1:4GuYW9TZmE769R5STWrRakJc4UqQ3+QQ95fyz7ENv1A=
 github.com/smartystreets/assertions v0.0.0-20180927180507-b2de0cb4f26d/go.mod h1:OnSkiWE9lh6wB0YB77sQom3nweQdgAjqCqsofrRNTgc=
diff --git a/setup/base.go b/setup/base.go
index f8a45409f..e9aa2a45e 100644
--- a/setup/base.go
+++ b/setup/base.go
@@ -290,22 +290,6 @@ func (b *BaseDendrite) CreateClient() *gomatrixserverlib.Client {
 	return client
 }
 
-// CreateAppserviceClient creates a new client for application services.
-// It has a specific timeout and obeys TLS validation from the appservice
-// config rather than the federation config.
-func (b *BaseDendrite) CreateAppserviceClient() *gomatrixserverlib.Client {
-	opts := []gomatrixserverlib.ClientOption{
-		gomatrixserverlib.WithSkipVerify(b.Cfg.AppServiceAPI.DisableTLSValidation),
-		gomatrixserverlib.WithTimeout(time.Second * 60),
-	}
-	if b.Cfg.Global.DNSCache.Enabled {
-		opts = append(opts, gomatrixserverlib.WithDNSCache(b.DNSCache))
-	}
-	client := gomatrixserverlib.NewClient(opts...)
-	client.SetUserAgent(fmt.Sprintf("Dendrite/%s", internal.VersionString()))
-	return client
-}
-
 // CreateFederationClient creates a new federation client. Should only be called
 // once per component.
 func (b *BaseDendrite) CreateFederationClient() *gomatrixserverlib.FederationClient {