diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 97460751468..57348fe2923 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ The version headers in this history reflect the versions of Apollo Server itself
 
 - `apollo-server-core`: Fix a race condition where schema reporting could lead to a delay at process shutdown. [PR #5222](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/pull/5222)
 - `apollo-server-core`: Allow the Fetch API implementation to be overridden for the schema reporting and usage reporting plugins via a new `fetcher` option. [PR #5179](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/pull/5179)
+- `apollo-server-core`: The `server.executeOperation` method (designed for testing) can now take its `query` as a `DocumentNode` (eg, a `gql`-tagged string) in addition to as a string. (This matches the behavior of the `apollo-server-testing` `createTestClient` function which is now deprecated.) We now recommend this method instead of `apollo-server-testing` in our docs. [Issue #4952](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/issues/4952)
+- `apollo-server-testing`: Replace README with a deprecation notice explaining how to use `server.executeOperation` instead. [Issue #4952](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/issues/4952)
 
 ## v2.24.1
 
diff --git a/docs/source/testing/testing.md b/docs/source/testing/testing.md
index e5ea248ca65..af1e31cde7e 100644
--- a/docs/source/testing/testing.md
+++ b/docs/source/testing/testing.md
@@ -3,33 +3,26 @@ title: Integration testing
 description: Utilities for testing Apollo Server
 ---
 
-Testing `apollo-server` can be done in many ways. The `apollo-server-testing` package provides tooling to make testing easier and accessible to users of all of the `apollo-server` integrations.
+Testing `apollo-server` can be done in many ways. One simple way is to use ApolloServer's `executeOperation` method to directly execute a GraphQL operation without going through a full HTTP operation.
 
-## `createTestClient`
+## `executeOperation`
 
-Integration testing a GraphQL server means testing many things. `apollo-server` has a request pipeline that can support many plugins that can affect the way an operation is executed. `createTestClient` provides a single hook to run operations through the request pipeline, enabling the most thorough tests possible without starting up an HTTP server.
+Integration testing a GraphQL server means testing many things. `apollo-server` has a request pipeline that can support many plugins that can affect the way an operation is executed. The `executeOperation` method provides a single hook to run operations through the request pipeline, enabling the most thorough tests possible without starting up an HTTP server.
 
 ```javascript
-const { createTestClient } = require('apollo-server-testing');
-
-const { query, mutate } = createTestClient(server);
+const server = new ApolloServer(config);
 
-query({
+const result = await server.executeOperation({
   query: GET_USER,
   variables: { id: 1 }
 });
-
-mutate({
-  mutation: UPDATE_USER,
-  variables: { id: 1, email: 'nancy@foo.co' }
-});
+expect(result.errors).toBeUndefined();
+expect(result.data?.user.name).toBe('Ida');
 ```
 
-When passed an instance of the `ApolloServer` class, `createTestClient` returns a `query` and `mutate` function that can be used to run operations against the server instance. Currently, queries and mutations are the only operation types supported by `createTestClient`.
+For example, you can set up a full server with your schema and resolvers and run an operation against it.
 
 ```javascript
-const { createTestClient } = require('apollo-server-testing');
-
 it('fetches single launch', async () => {
   const userAPI = new UserAPI({ store });
   const launchAPI = new LaunchAPI();
@@ -42,6 +35,7 @@ it('fetches single launch', async () => {
     dataSources: () => ({ userAPI, launchAPI }),
     context: () => ({ user: { id: 1, email: 'a@a.a' } }),
   });
+  await server.start();
 
   // mock the dataSource's underlying fetch methods
   launchAPI.get = jest.fn(() => [mockLaunchResponse]);
@@ -50,15 +44,46 @@ it('fetches single launch', async () => {
     { dataValues: { launchId: 1 } },
   ]);
 
-  // use the test server to create a query function
-  const { query } = createTestClient(server);
-
   // run query against the server and snapshot the output
-  const res = await query({ query: GET_LAUNCH, variables: { id: 1 } });
+  const res = await server.executeOperation({ query: GET_LAUNCH, variables: { id: 1 } });
   expect(res).toMatchSnapshot();
 });
 ```
 
-This is an example of a full integration test being run against a test instance of `apollo-server`. This test imports the important pieces to test (`typeDefs`, `resolvers`, `dataSources`) and creates a new instance of `apollo-server`. Once an instance is created, it's passed to `createTestClient` which returns `{ query, mutate }`. These methods can then be used to execute operations against the server.
+This is an example of a full integration test being run against a test instance of `apollo-server`. This test imports the important pieces to test (`typeDefs`, `resolvers`, `dataSources`) and creates a new instance of `apollo-server`.
+
+The example above shows writing a test-specific [`context` function](../data/resolvers/#the-context-argument) which provides data directly instead of calculating it from the request context. If you'd like to use your server's real `context` function, you can pass a second argument to `executeOperation` which will be passed to your `context` function as its argument. You will need to put to gether an object with the [middleware-specific context fields](../api/apollo-server/#middleware-specific-context-fields) yourself.
+
+You can use `executeOperation` to execute queries and mutations. Because the interface matches the GraphQL HTTP protocol, you specify the operation text under the `query` key even if the operation is a mutation. You can specify `query` either as a string or as a `DocumentNode` (an AST created by the `gql` tag).
+
+In addition to `query`, the first argument to `executeOperation` can take `operationName`, `variables`, `extensions`, and `http` keys.
+
+Note that errors in parsing, validating, and executing your operation are returned in the `errors` field of the result (just like in a GraphQL response) rather than thrown.
+
+## `createTestClient` and `apollo-server-testing`
+
+There is also a package called `apollo-server-testing` which exports a function `createTestClient` which wraps `executeOperation`. This API does not support the second context-function-argument argument, and doesn't provide any real advantages over calling `executeOperation` directly. It is deprecated and will no longer be published with Apollo Server 3.
+
+We recommend that you replace this code:
+
+```js
+const { createTestClient } = require('apollo-server-testing');
+
+const { query, mutate } = createTestClient(server);
+
+await query({ query: QUERY });
+await mutate({ mutation: MUTATION });
+```
+
+with
+
+```js
+await server.executeOperation({ query: QUERY });
+await server.executeOperation({ query: MUTATION });
+```
+
+## End-to-end testing
+
+Instead of bypassing the HTTP layer, you may just want to fully run your server and test it with a real HTTP client.
 
-For more examples of this tool in action, check out the [integration tests](https://github.com/apollographql/fullstack-tutorial/blob/master/final/server/src/__tests__/integration.js) in the [Fullstack Tutorial](https://www.apollographql.com/docs/tutorial/introduction.html).
+Apollo Server doesn't have any built-in support for this. You can combine any HTTP or GraphQL client such as [`supertest`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/supertest) or [Apollo Client's HTTP Link](https://www.apollographql.com/docs/react/api/link/apollo-link-http/) to run operations against your server. There are also community packages available such as [`apollo-server-integration-testing`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/apollo-server-integration-testing) which provides an API similar to the deprecated `apollo-server-testing` package which uses mocked Express request and response objects.
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/ApolloServer.ts b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/ApolloServer.ts
index 6fbc91500b8..77fd03b4e1d 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/ApolloServer.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/ApolloServer.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   ValidationContext,
   FieldDefinitionNode,
   DocumentNode,
+  print,
 } from 'graphql';
 import resolvable, { Resolvable } from '@josephg/resolvable';
 import { GraphQLExtension } from 'graphql-extensions';
@@ -1265,6 +1266,11 @@ export class ApolloServerBase {
    * going through the HTTP layer. Note that this means that any handling you do
    * in your server at the HTTP level will not affect this call!
    *
+   * For convenience, you can provide `request.query` either as a string or a
+   * DocumentNode, in case you choose to use the gql tag in your tests. This is
+   * just a convenience, not an optimization (we convert provided ASTs back into
+   * string).
+   *
    * If you pass a second argument to this method and your ApolloServer's
    * `context` is a function, that argument will be passed directly to your
    * `context` function. It is your responsibility to make it as close as needed
@@ -1273,7 +1279,12 @@ export class ApolloServerBase {
    * `{req: express.Request, res: express.Response }` object) and to keep it
    * updated as you upgrade Apollo Server.
    */
-  public async executeOperation(request: GraphQLRequest, integrationContextArgument?: Record<string, any>) {
+  public async executeOperation(
+    request: Omit<GraphQLRequest, 'query'> & {
+      query?: string | DocumentNode;
+    },
+    integrationContextArgument?: Record<string, any>,
+  ) {
     const options = await this.graphQLServerOptions(integrationContextArgument);
 
     if (typeof options.context === 'function') {
@@ -1292,7 +1303,13 @@ export class ApolloServerBase {
       logger: this.logger,
       schema: options.schema,
       schemaHash: options.schemaHash,
-      request,
+      request: {
+        ...request,
+        query:
+          request.query && typeof request.query !== 'string'
+            ? print(request.query)
+            : request.query,
+      },
       context: options.context || Object.create(null),
       cache: options.cache!,
       metrics: {},
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/__tests__/ApolloServerBase.test.ts b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/__tests__/ApolloServerBase.test.ts
index 1ef355f4608..4f5e43ff1b7 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/__tests__/ApolloServerBase.test.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/__tests__/ApolloServerBase.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { ApolloServerBase } from '../ApolloServer';
 import { buildServiceDefinition } from '@apollographql/apollo-tools';
-import gql from 'graphql-tag';
+import { gql } from '../';
 import { Logger } from 'apollo-server-types';
 import { ApolloServerPlugin } from 'apollo-server-plugin-base';
 import type { GraphQLSchema } from 'graphql';
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const typeDefs = gql`
   type Query {
     hello: String
     error: Boolean
+    contextFoo: String
   }
 `;
 
@@ -20,6 +21,9 @@ const resolvers = {
     error() {
       throw new Error('A test error');
     },
+    contextFoo(_root: any, _args: any, context: any) {
+      return context.foo;
+    },
   },
 };
 
@@ -181,6 +185,60 @@ describe('ApolloServerBase executeOperation', () => {
     expect(result.errors?.[0].extensions?.code).toBe('INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR');
     expect(result.errors?.[0].extensions?.exception?.stacktrace).toBeDefined();
   });
+
+  it('works with string', async () => {
+    const server = new ApolloServerBase({
+      typeDefs,
+      resolvers,
+    });
+
+    const result = await server.executeOperation({ query: '{ hello }' });
+    expect(result.errors).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.data?.hello).toBe('world');
+  });
+
+  it('works with AST', async () => {
+    const server = new ApolloServerBase({
+      typeDefs,
+      resolvers,
+    });
+
+    const result = await server.executeOperation({
+      query: gql`
+        {
+          hello
+        }
+      `,
+    });
+    expect(result.errors).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.data?.hello).toBe('world');
+  });
+
+  it('parse errors', async () => {
+    const server = new ApolloServerBase({
+      typeDefs,
+      resolvers,
+    });
+
+    const result = await server.executeOperation({ query: '{' });
+    expect(result.errors).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(result.errors?.[0].extensions?.code).toBe('GRAPHQL_PARSE_FAILED');
+  });
+
+  it('passes its second argument to context function', async () => {
+    const server = new ApolloServerBase({
+      typeDefs,
+      resolvers,
+      context: ({ fooIn }) => ({ foo: fooIn }),
+    });
+
+    const result = await server.executeOperation(
+      { query: '{ contextFoo }' },
+      { fooIn: 'bla' },
+    );
+    expect(result.errors).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.data?.contextFoo).toBe('bla');
+  });
 });
 
 describe('environment variables', () => {
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-testing/README.md b/packages/apollo-server-testing/README.md
index b661a5cd059..fde8c2207be 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-testing/README.md
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-testing/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,23 @@
 # apollo-server-testing
 
-[![npm version](https://badge.fury.io/js/apollo-server-testing.svg)](https://badge.fury.io/js/apollo-server-testing)
-[![Build Status](https://circleci.com/gh/apollographql/apollo-server/tree/main.svg?style=svg)](https://circleci.com/gh/apollographql/apollo-server)
+This deprecated package contains a function `createTestClient` which is a very thin wrapper around the Apollo Server `server.executeOperation` method.
 
-This is the testing module of the Apollo community GraphQL Server. [Read the docs.](https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/)
-[Read the CHANGELOG.](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)
+Code that uses this package looks like the following, where `server` is an `ApolloServer`:
+
+```js
+const { createTestClient } = require('apollo-server-testing');
+
+const { query, mutate } = createTestClient(server);
+
+await query({ query: QUERY });
+await mutate({ mutation: MUTATION });
+```
+
+We recommend you stop using this package and replace the above code with the equivalent:
+
+```js
+await server.executeOperation({ query: QUERY });
+await server.executeOperation({ query: MUTATION });
+```
+
+This package will not be distributed as part of Apollo Server 3.