diff --git a/changelog/4306.bugfix.rst b/changelog/4306.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cb2872d3ff8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/4306.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Parse ``minversion`` as an actual version and not as dot-separated strings.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py b/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
index 6fbf8144a8f..b42d6f843fe 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import sys
 import types
 import warnings
+from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 
 import py
 import six
@@ -816,9 +817,7 @@ def _checkversion(self):
 
         minver = self.inicfg.get("minversion", None)
         if minver:
-            ver = minver.split(".")
-            myver = pytest.__version__.split(".")
-            if myver < ver:
+            if LooseVersion(minver) > LooseVersion(pytest.__version__):
                 raise pytest.UsageError(
                     "%s:%d: requires pytest-%s, actual pytest-%s'"
                     % (