diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index fba84bc7..2478752b 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ def __getattr__(cls, name):
 
 # The theme to use for HTML and HTML Help pages.  See the documentation for
 # a list of builtin themes.
-html_theme = 'default'
+html_theme = 'pydata_sphinx_theme'
 
 # Theme options are theme-specific and customize the look and feel of a theme
 # further.  For a list of options available for each theme, see the
diff --git a/docs/release.rst b/docs/release.rst
index 38203765..2a6b3a59 100644
--- a/docs/release.rst
+++ b/docs/release.rst
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ Unreleased
 Enhancements
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+* Use PyData theme for docs
+  By :user:`John Kirkham <jakirkham>`, :issue:`485`.
+
 Fix
 ~~~
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 31268274..3d687b22 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ Homepage = "https://github.com/zarr-developers/numcodecs"
 docs = [
     "sphinx<7.0.0",
     "sphinx-issues",
+    "pydata-sphinx-theme",
     "numpydoc",
     "mock",
 ]