diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b7a761f..b618ebe 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ before_install:
   # upgrade pip to latest version and install iminuit with pip
   - pip install --upgrade pip
   - pip install --upgrade matplotlib==$MPL_VERSION
-  - if [[ $CONDA_PYTHON_VERSION == 2.7 ]]; then pip uninstall minuit && pip install iminuit==1.2; else pip install --upgrade iminuit; fi
+  - if [[ $CONDA_PYTHON_VERSION == 2.7 ]]; then pip uninstall minuit && pip install iminuit==1.2; else pip install --upgrade 'iminuit<2'; fi
 
   # output python version to log
   - python --version
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 333c5a0..dfc7153 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ Additionally, a function minimizer is needed. *kafe* implements interfaces to tw
 function minimizers and requires at least one of them to be installed:
 
 * *MINUIT*, which is included in *CERN*'s data analysis package `ROOT <http://root.cern.ch>`_ (>= 5.34), or
-* `iminuit <https://github.com/iminuit/iminuit>`_ (>= 1.2), which is independent of ROOT
+* `iminuit <https://github.com/iminuit/iminuit>`_ (>= 1.2, < 2.0), which is independent of ROOT
 
 
 Finally, *kafe* requires a number of external programs:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d06b6b9..244ff2c 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def read_local(filename):
         "NumPy >= 1.11.2",
         "SciPy >= 0.17.0",
         "matplotlib >= 1.5.0",
-        "iminuit >= 1.2",
+        "iminuit >= 1.2, <2",
     ],
     test_suite='setup.discover_kafe_tests',
     keywords = "data analysis lab courses education students physics fitting minimization",