diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 0ec0e75b762..bf87de07f89 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@ coverage>=4.0
 cython>=0.23
 enum34>=1.0.4
 futures>=2.2.0
-protobuf>=3.0.0a3
+protobuf>=3.0.0
 six>=1.10
-wheel>=0.29
\ No newline at end of file
+wheel>=0.29
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b43ec9ae3d4..1dddf55e5e8 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ INSTALL_REQUIRES = (
     'futures>=2.2.0',
     # TODO(atash): eventually split the grpcio package into a metapackage
     # depending on protobuf and the runtime component (independent of protobuf)
-    'protobuf>=3.0.0a3',
+    'protobuf>=3.0.0',
 )
 
 SETUP_REQUIRES = INSTALL_REQUIRES + (
diff --git a/src/python/grpcio_health_checking/setup.py b/src/python/grpcio_health_checking/setup.py
index 727d6288853..6074175a449 100644
--- a/src/python/grpcio_health_checking/setup.py
+++ b/src/python/grpcio_health_checking/setup.py
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ SETUP_REQUIRES = (
 )
 
 INSTALL_REQUIRES = (
+    'protobuf>=3.0.0',
     'grpcio>=0.15.0',
 )
 
diff --git a/src/python/grpcio_tests/setup.py b/src/python/grpcio_tests/setup.py
index 0afaf7dfa21..5c60eaca3a3 100644
--- a/src/python/grpcio_tests/setup.py
+++ b/src/python/grpcio_tests/setup.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ INSTALL_REQUIRES = (
     'grpcio>=0.14.0',
     'grpcio-health-checking>=0.14.0',
     'oauth2client>=1.4.7',
-    'protobuf>=3.0.0a3',
+    'protobuf>=3.0.0',
     'six>=1.10',
 )
 
diff --git a/tools/distrib/python/grpcio_tools/setup.py b/tools/distrib/python/grpcio_tools/setup.py
index 8082c7a665a..43d0f5518a8 100644
--- a/tools/distrib/python/grpcio_tools/setup.py
+++ b/tools/distrib/python/grpcio_tools/setup.py
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ setuptools.setup(
   packages=setuptools.find_packages('.'),
   namespace_packages=['grpc'],
   install_requires=[
-    'protobuf>=3.0.0a3',
+    'protobuf>=3.0.0',
     'grpcio>=0.15.0',
   ],
   package_data=package_data(),