diff --git a/ports/unix/variants/coverage/mpconfigvariant.h b/ports/unix/variants/coverage/mpconfigvariant.h
index 2a48e57e7f013..ce6e344ac9a6c 100644
--- a/ports/unix/variants/coverage/mpconfigvariant.h
+++ b/ports/unix/variants/coverage/mpconfigvariant.h
@@ -42,3 +42,8 @@
 #define MICROPY_TRACKED_ALLOC          (1)
 #define MICROPY_WARNINGS_CATEGORY      (1)
 #define MICROPY_PY_UCRYPTOLIB_CTR      (1)
+
+// Enable int.bit_length(n)
+#ifndef MICROPY_INT_BIT_LENGTH
+#define MICROPY_INT_BIT_LENGTH (1)
+#endif
diff --git a/py/mpz.c b/py/mpz.c
index b61997e2fd4ed..3c032bfefdf14 100644
--- a/py/mpz.c
+++ b/py/mpz.c
@@ -1390,6 +1390,24 @@ void mpz_pow3_inpl(mpz_t *dest, const mpz_t *lhs, const mpz_t *rhs, const mpz_t
     mpz_free(n);
 }
 
+#if MICROPY_INT_BIT_LENGTH
+mp_uint_t mpz_bit_length_inpl(mpz_t *n) {
+    if (n->len == 0) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    mpz_t *dest = mpz_clone(n);
+    mp_uint_t num_bits = 0;
+    while (dest->len > 0) {
+        dest->len = mpn_shr(dest->dig, dest->dig, dest->len, 1);
+        num_bits++;
+    }
+
+    mpz_free(dest);
+    return num_bits;
+}
+#endif
+
 #if 0
 these functions are unused
 
diff --git a/py/mpz.h b/py/mpz.h
index d27f5724047ae..36087b0299570 100644
--- a/py/mpz.h
+++ b/py/mpz.h
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@ void mpz_and_inpl(mpz_t *dest, const mpz_t *lhs, const mpz_t *rhs);
 void mpz_or_inpl(mpz_t *dest, const mpz_t *lhs, const mpz_t *rhs);
 void mpz_xor_inpl(mpz_t *dest, const mpz_t *lhs, const mpz_t *rhs);
 void mpz_divmod_inpl(mpz_t *dest_quo, mpz_t *dest_rem, const mpz_t *lhs, const mpz_t *rhs);
+#if MICROPY_INT_BIT_LENGTH
+mp_uint_t mpz_bit_length_inpl(mpz_t *dest);
+#endif
 
 static inline size_t mpz_max_num_bits(const mpz_t *z) {
     return z->len * MPZ_DIG_SIZE;
diff --git a/py/objint.c b/py/objint.c
index be5f4653a7dec..ee2da0c22ad27 100644
--- a/py/objint.c
+++ b/py/objint.c
@@ -450,9 +450,30 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t int_to_bytes(size_t n_args, const mp_obj_t *args) {
 }
 STATIC MP_DEFINE_CONST_FUN_OBJ_VAR_BETWEEN(int_to_bytes_obj, 3, 4, int_to_bytes);
 
+#if MICROPY_INT_BIT_LENGTH
+STATIC mp_obj_t int_bit_length(size_t n_args, const mp_obj_t *args) {
+    (void)n_args;
+    #if MICROPY_LONGINT_IMPL == MICROPY_LONGINT_IMPL_MPZ
+    return mp_obj_int_mpz_bit_length(args[0]);
+    #else
+    mp_uint_t dest = MP_OBJ_SMALL_INT_VALUE(args[0]);
+    mp_uint_t num_bits = 0;
+    while (dest > 0) {
+        dest >>= 1;
+        num_bits++;
+    }
+    return mp_obj_new_int_from_uint(num_bits);
+    #endif
+}
+STATIC MP_DEFINE_CONST_FUN_OBJ_VAR_BETWEEN(int_bit_length_obj, 0, 1, int_bit_length);
+#endif
+
 STATIC const mp_rom_map_elem_t int_locals_dict_table[] = {
     { MP_ROM_QSTR(MP_QSTR_from_bytes), MP_ROM_PTR(&int_from_bytes_obj) },
     { MP_ROM_QSTR(MP_QSTR_to_bytes), MP_ROM_PTR(&int_to_bytes_obj) },
+    #if MICROPY_INT_BIT_LENGTH
+    { MP_ROM_QSTR(MP_QSTR_bit_length), MP_ROM_PTR(&int_bit_length_obj) },
+    #endif
 };
 
 STATIC MP_DEFINE_CONST_DICT(int_locals_dict, int_locals_dict_table);
diff --git a/py/objint.h b/py/objint.h
index 5eed87705dedb..46085d55e3a94 100644
--- a/py/objint.h
+++ b/py/objint.h
@@ -61,5 +61,8 @@ mp_obj_t mp_obj_int_unary_op(mp_unary_op_t op, mp_obj_t o_in);
 mp_obj_t mp_obj_int_binary_op(mp_binary_op_t op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_in);
 mp_obj_t mp_obj_int_binary_op_extra_cases(mp_binary_op_t op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_in);
 mp_obj_t mp_obj_int_pow3(mp_obj_t base, mp_obj_t exponent,  mp_obj_t modulus);
+#if (MICROPY_INT_BIT_LENGTH && MICROPY_LONGINT_IMPL == MICROPY_LONGINT_IMPL_MPZ)
+mp_obj_t mp_obj_int_mpz_bit_length(mp_obj_t n);
+#endif
 
 #endif // MICROPY_INCLUDED_PY_OBJINT_H
diff --git a/py/objint_mpz.c b/py/objint_mpz.c
index 8078441d66a0b..45eb571cc457a 100644
--- a/py/objint_mpz.c
+++ b/py/objint_mpz.c
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ mp_obj_t mp_obj_int_binary_op(mp_binary_op_t op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_i
     }
 }
 
-#if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_POW3
+#if (MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_POW3 || MICROPY_INT_BIT_LENGTH)
 STATIC mpz_t *mp_mpz_for_int(mp_obj_t arg, mpz_t *temp) {
     if (mp_obj_is_small_int(arg)) {
         mpz_init_from_int(temp, MP_OBJ_SMALL_INT_VALUE(arg));
@@ -344,7 +344,9 @@ STATIC mpz_t *mp_mpz_for_int(mp_obj_t arg, mpz_t *temp) {
         return &(arp_p->mpz);
     }
 }
+#endif
 
+#if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_POW3
 mp_obj_t mp_obj_int_pow3(mp_obj_t base, mp_obj_t exponent,  mp_obj_t modulus) {
     if (!mp_obj_is_int(base) || !mp_obj_is_int(exponent) || !mp_obj_is_int(modulus)) {
         mp_raise_TypeError(MP_ERROR_TEXT("pow() with 3 arguments requires integers"));
@@ -373,6 +375,18 @@ mp_obj_t mp_obj_int_pow3(mp_obj_t base, mp_obj_t exponent,  mp_obj_t modulus) {
 }
 #endif
 
+#if MICROPY_INT_BIT_LENGTH
+mp_obj_t mp_obj_int_mpz_bit_length(mp_obj_t size) {
+    mpz_t n_temp;
+    mpz_t *n = mp_mpz_for_int(size, &n_temp);
+    mp_uint_t res = mpz_bit_length_inpl(n);
+    if (n == &n_temp) {
+        mpz_deinit(n);
+    }
+    return mp_obj_new_int_from_ull(res);
+}
+#endif
+
 mp_obj_t mp_obj_new_int(mp_int_t value) {
     if (MP_SMALL_INT_FITS(value)) {
         return MP_OBJ_NEW_SMALL_INT(value);
diff --git a/tests/basics/builtin_help.py.exp b/tests/basics/builtin_help.py.exp
index ed8a7d74b8541..5f8d71c318d65 100644
--- a/tests/basics/builtin_help.py.exp
+++ b/tests/basics/builtin_help.py.exp
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@ object <function> is of type function
 object <class 'int'> is of type type
   from_bytes -- <classmethod>
   to_bytes -- <function>
+########
 object 1 is of type int
   from_bytes -- <classmethod>
   to_bytes -- <function>
+########
 object <module 'micropython'> is of type module
   __name__ -- micropython
   const -- <function>
diff --git a/tests/basics/int_bit_length.py b/tests/basics/int_bit_length.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a7f5cf305a6ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/basics/int_bit_length.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# tests int.bit_length
+
+try:
+    int.bit_length
+except AttributeError:
+    print('SKIP')
+    raise SystemExit
+
+n = -37
+print(n.bit_length())
+
+n = 1024
+print(n.bit_length())
+
+n = -1024
+print(n.bit_length())
+
+print((2048).bit_length())
+
+print((-2048).bit_length())