diff --git a/swh/core/db/db_utils.py b/swh/core/db/db_utils.py
--- a/swh/core/db/db_utils.py
+++ b/swh/core/db/db_utils.py
@@ -548,6 +548,33 @@
     return True, current_db_version, dbflavor
 
 
+def initialize_database_for_module(modname: str, version: int, **kwargs):
+    """Helper function to initialize and populate a database for the given module
+
+    This aims at helping the usage of pytest_postgresql for swh.core.db based datastores.
+    Typical usage will be (here for swh.storage):
+
+      from pytest_postgresql import factories
+
+      storage_postgresql_proc = factories.postgresql_proc(
+        load=[partial(initialize_database_for_module, modname="storage", version=42)]
+      )
+      storage_postgresql = factories.postgresql("storage_postgresql_proc")
+
+    """
+    conninfo = psycopg2.connect(**kwargs).dsn
+    init_admin_extensions(modname, conninfo)
+    populate_database_for_package(modname, conninfo)
+    try:
+        swh_set_db_version(conninfo, version)
+    except psycopg2.errors.UniqueViolation:
+        logger.warn(
+            "Version already set by db init scripts. "
+            f"This generally means the swh.{modname} package needs to be "
+            "updated for swh.core>=1.2"
+        )
+
+
 def get_database_info(
     conninfo: str,
 ) -> Tuple[Optional[str], Optional[int], Optional[str]]:
diff --git a/swh/core/db/pytest_plugin.py b/swh/core/db/pytest_plugin.py
--- a/swh/core/db/pytest_plugin.py
+++ b/swh/core/db/pytest_plugin.py
@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@
 import logging
 import subprocess
 from typing import Callable, Iterable, Iterator, List, Optional, Sequence, Set, Union
+import warnings
 
 from _pytest.fixtures import FixtureRequest
+from deprecated import deprecated
 import psycopg2
 import pytest
 from pytest_postgresql.compat import check_for_psycopg2, connection
@@ -17,11 +19,7 @@
 from pytest_postgresql.executor_noop import NoopExecutor
 from pytest_postgresql.janitor import DatabaseJanitor
 
-from swh.core.db.db_utils import (
-    init_admin_extensions,
-    populate_database_for_package,
-    swh_set_db_version,
-)
+from swh.core.db.db_utils import initialize_database_for_module
 from swh.core.utils import basename_sortkey
 
 # to keep mypy happy regardless pytest-postgresql version
@@ -36,6 +34,16 @@
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+initialize_database_for_module = deprecated(
+    version="2.10",
+    reason="Use swh.core.db.db_utils.initialize_database_for_module instead.",
+)(initialize_database_for_module)
+
+warnings.warn(
+    "This pytest plugin is deprecated, it should not be used any more.",
+    category=DeprecationWarning,
+)
+
 
 class SWHDatabaseJanitor(DatabaseJanitor):
     """SWH database janitor implementation with a a different setup/teardown policy than
@@ -169,6 +177,7 @@
 # the postgres_fact factory fixture below is mostly a copy of the code
 # from pytest-postgresql. We need a custom version here to be able to
 # specify our version of the DBJanitor we use.
+@deprecated(version="2.10", reason="Use stock pytest_postgresql factory instead")
 def postgresql_fact(
     process_fixture_name: str,
     dbname: Optional[str] = None,
@@ -252,20 +261,6 @@
     return postgresql_factory
 
 
-def initialize_database_for_module(modname, version, **kwargs):
-    conninfo = psycopg2.connect(**kwargs).dsn
-    init_admin_extensions(modname, conninfo)
-    populate_database_for_package(modname, conninfo)
-    try:
-        swh_set_db_version(conninfo, version)
-    except psycopg2.errors.UniqueViolation:
-        logger.warn(
-            "Version already set by db init scripts. "
-            "This generally means the swh.{modname} package needs to be "
-            "updated for swh.core>=1.2"
-        )
-
-
 def gen_dump_files(dump_files: Union[str, Iterable[str]]) -> Iterator[str]:
     """Generate files potentially resolving glob patterns if any"""
     if isinstance(dump_files, str):
diff --git a/swh/core/db/tests/test_db.py b/swh/core/db/tests/test_db.py
--- a/swh/core/db/tests/test_db.py
+++ b/swh/core/db/tests/test_db.py
@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@
 from hypothesis.extra.pytz import timezones
 import psycopg2
 import pytest
+from pytest_postgresql import factories
 from typing_extensions import Protocol
 
 from swh.core.db import BaseDb
 from swh.core.db.common import db_transaction, db_transaction_generator
-from swh.core.db.pytest_plugin import postgresql_fact
 from swh.core.db.tests.conftest import function_scoped_fixture_check
 
 
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@
     ]
 
 
-test_db = postgresql_fact("postgresql_proc", dbname="test-db2")
+test_db = factories.postgresql("postgresql_proc", dbname="test-db2")
 
 
 @pytest.fixture