diff --git a/templates/grpc.gemspec.template b/templates/grpc.gemspec.template
index 9ca797fe913..f8dd0938936 100644
--- a/templates/grpc.gemspec.template
+++ b/templates/grpc.gemspec.template
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
     s.require_paths = %w( src/ruby/lib src/ruby/bin src/ruby/pb )
     s.platform      = Gem::Platform::RUBY
 
-    s.add_dependency 'google-protobuf', '~> 3.8.0'
+    s.add_dependency 'google-protobuf', '~> 3.8'
     s.add_dependency 'googleapis-common-protos-types', '~> 1.0'
 
     s.add_development_dependency 'bundler',            '~> 1.9'