diff --git a/pytest_django/plugin.py b/pytest_django/plugin.py
index 067e33c52..5eecc5c16 100644
--- a/pytest_django/plugin.py
+++ b/pytest_django/plugin.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 This plugin handles creating and destroying the test environment and
 test database and provides some useful text fixtures.
 """
-
 import contextlib
 import inspect
 from functools import reduce
@@ -40,10 +39,96 @@
 SETTINGS_MODULE_ENV = 'DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'
 CONFIGURATION_ENV = 'DJANGO_CONFIGURATION'
 INVALID_TEMPLATE_VARS_ENV = 'FAIL_INVALID_TEMPLATE_VARS'
-
+DJANGO_ASSERTS = {
+    # from https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.3.x/django/test/testcases.py#L244
+    (1, 3): ('assertContains', 'assertFormError', 'assertNotContains',
+             'assertNumQueries', 'assertQuerysetEqual', 'assertRedirects',
+             'assertTemplateNotUsed', 'assertTemplateUsed'),
+    # from https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.4.x/django/test/testcases.py#L448
+    (1, 4): ('assertContains', 'assertFieldOutput', 'assertFormError',
+             'assertHTMLEqual', 'assertHTMLNotEqual', 'assertNotContains',
+             'assertNumQueries', 'assertQuerysetEqual', 'assertRaisesMessage',
+             'assertRedirects', 'assertTemplateNotUsed', 'assertTemplateUsed'),
+    # from https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.5.x/django/test/testcases.py#L246
+    #  and https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.5.x/django/test/testcases.py#L458
+    (1, 5): ('assertContains', 'assertFieldOutput', 'assertFormError',
+             'assertHTMLEqual', 'assertHTMLNotEqual', 'assertInHTML',
+             'assertJSONEqual', 'assertNotContains', 'assertNumQueries',
+             'assertQuerysetEqual', 'assertRaisesMessage', 'assertRedirects',
+             'assertTemplateNotUsed', 'assertTemplateUsed', 'assertXMLEqual',
+             'assertXMLNotEqual'),
+    # from https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.6.x/django/test/testcases.py#L156
+    #  and https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.6.x/django/test/testcases.py#L725
+    (1, 6): ('assertContains', 'assertFieldOutput', 'assertFormError',
+             'assertFormsetError', 'assertHTMLEqual', 'assertHTMLNotEqual',
+             'assertInHTML', 'assertJSONEqual', 'assertNotContains',
+             'assertNumQueries', 'assertQuerysetEqual', 'assertRaisesMessage',
+             'assertRedirects', 'assertTemplateNotUsed', 'assertTemplateUsed',
+             'assertXMLEqual', 'assertXMLNotEqual'),
+    # from https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.7.x/django/test/testcases.py#L162
+    #  and https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.7.x/django/test/testcases.py#L722
+    (1, 7): ('assertContains', 'assertFieldOutput', 'assertFormError',
+             'assertFormsetError', 'assertHTMLEqual', 'assertHTMLNotEqual',
+             'assertInHTML', 'assertJSONEqual', 'assertNotContains',
+             'assertNumQueries', 'assertQuerysetEqual', 'assertRaisesMessage',
+             'assertRedirects', 'assertTemplateNotUsed', 'assertTemplateUsed',
+             'assertXMLEqual', 'assertXMLNotEqual'),
+    # from https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.8.x/django/test/testcases.py#L142
+    #  and https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.8.x/django/test/testcases.py#L751
+    (1, 8): ('assertContains', 'assertFieldOutput', 'assertFormError',
+             'assertFormsetError', 'assertHTMLEqual', 'assertHTMLNotEqual',
+             'assertInHTML', 'assertJSONEqual', 'assertJSONNotEqual',
+             'assertNotContains', 'assertNumQueries', 'assertQuerysetEqual',
+             'assertRaisesMessage', 'assertRedirects', 'assertTemplateNotUsed',
+             'assertTemplateUsed', 'assertXMLEqual', 'assertXMLNotEqual'),
+    # from https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.9.x/django/test/testcases.py#L158
+    #  and https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.9.x/django/test/testcases.py#L818
+    (1, 9): ('assertContains', 'assertFieldOutput', 'assertFormError',
+             'assertFormsetError', 'assertHTMLEqual', 'assertHTMLNotEqual',
+             'assertInHTML', 'assertJSONEqual', 'assertJSONNotEqual',
+             'assertNotContains', 'assertNumQueries', 'assertQuerysetEqual',
+             'assertRaisesMessage', 'assertRedirects', 'assertTemplateNotUsed',
+             'assertTemplateUsed', 'assertXMLEqual', 'assertXMLNotEqual'),
+    # from https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.10.x/django/test/testcases.py#L155
+    #  and https://github.com/django/django/blob/stable/1.10.x/django/test/testcases.py#L797
+    (1, 10): ('assertContains', 'assertFieldOutput', 'assertFormError',
+              'assertFormsetError', 'assertHTMLEqual', 'assertHTMLNotEqual',
+              'assertInHTML', 'assertJSONEqual', 'assertJSONNotEqual',
+              'assertNotContains', 'assertNumQueries', 'assertQuerysetEqual',
+              'assertRaisesMessage', 'assertRedirects', 'assertTemplateNotUsed',
+              'assertTemplateUsed', 'assertXMLEqual', 'assertXMLNotEqual'),
+}
 
 # ############### pytest hooks ################
 
+def populate_namespace():
+    def _wrapper(name):
+
+        def assertion_func(*args, **kwargs):
+            from django.test import TestCase as DjangoTestCase
+
+            getattr(DjangoTestCase('run'), name)(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        return assertion_func
+
+    asserts = {}
+    for name in DJANGO_ASSERTS[get_django_version()[:2]]:
+        asserts[name] = _wrapper(name)
+
+    return {'django': asserts}
+
+
+def pytest_namespace():
+    """Make unittest assert methods available.
+    Useful for things such as floating point checks with assertAlmostEqual.
+    """
+    try:
+        django_settings_is_configured()
+    except AssertionError:
+        return populate_namespace()
+    return {}
+
+
 def pytest_addoption(parser):
     group = parser.getgroup('django')
     group._addoption('--reuse-db',
@@ -594,8 +679,7 @@ def _save_active_wrapper(self):
         return self._history.append(self._dj_db_wrapper.ensure_connection)
 
     def _blocking_wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
-        __tracebackhide__ = True
-        __tracebackhide__  # Silence pyflakes
+        __tracebackhide__ = True  # noqa
         pytest.fail('Database access not allowed, '
                     'use the "django_db" mark, or the '
                     '"db" or "transactional_db" fixtures to enable it.')
diff --git a/tests/test_namespaces.py b/tests/test_namespaces.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9847f929d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_namespaces.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# coding: utf-8
+import inspect
+
+import pytest
+import pytest_django
+
+from pytest_django.lazy_django import get_django_version
+from pytest_django.plugin import DJANGO_ASSERTS
+
+
+def _get_actual_assertions_names():
+    """
+    Returns list with names of all assertion helpers in Django.
+    """
+    from django.test import TestCase as DjangoTestCase
+    from django.utils.unittest import TestCase as DefaultTestCase
+
+    obj = DjangoTestCase('run')
+    is_assert = lambda x: x.startswith('assert') and '_' not in x
+    base_methods = [name for name, member in
+                    inspect.getmembers(DefaultTestCase)
+                    if is_assert(name)]
+
+    return [name for name, member in inspect.getmembers(obj)
+            if is_assert(name) and name not in base_methods]
+
+
+def test_django_asserts_available():
+    django_assertions = _get_actual_assertions_names()
+    expected_assertions = DJANGO_ASSERTS[get_django_version()[:2]]
+    assert set(django_assertions) == set(expected_assertions)
+
+    for name in expected_assertions:
+        assert hasattr(pytest_django, name)
+
+
+def test_sanity(admin_client):
+    from pytest_django import assertContains
+
+    response = admin_client.get('/admin-required/')
+
+    assertContains(response, 'You are an admin')
+    with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+        assertContains(response, 'Access denied')