diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
index ae835c639943..0b2b23cc9528 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ class BeamModulePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
     def cassandra_driver_version = "3.10.2"
     def checkerframework_version = "3.5.0"
     def classgraph_version = "4.8.65"
-    def gax_version = "1.57.1"
+    def gax_version = "1.60.0"
     def generated_grpc_ga_version = "1.85.1"
     def google_auth_version = "0.19.0"
     def google_clients_version = "1.30.10"
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ class BeamModulePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
     def google_code_gson_version = "2.8.6"
     def google_http_clients_version = "1.34.0"
     def google_oauth_clients_version = "1.31.0"
-    def grpc_version = "1.27.2"
+    def grpc_version = "1.32.2"
     def guava_version = "25.1-jre"
     def hadoop_version = "2.8.5"
     def hamcrest_version = "2.1"
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ class BeamModulePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
     def postgres_version = "42.2.16"
     def powermock_version = "2.0.2"
     def proto_google_common_protos_version = "1.17.0"
-    def protobuf_version = "3.11.1"
+    def protobuf_version = "3.12.0"
     def quickcheck_version = "0.8"
     def slf4j_version = "1.7.30"
     def spark_version = "2.4.7"
diff --git a/sdks/java/extensions/protobuf/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/protobuf/ProtoDynamicMessageSchemaTest.java b/sdks/java/extensions/protobuf/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/protobuf/ProtoDynamicMessageSchemaTest.java
index 17b5106f2626..71027b86fecb 100644
--- a/sdks/java/extensions/protobuf/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/protobuf/ProtoDynamicMessageSchemaTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/extensions/protobuf/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/protobuf/ProtoDynamicMessageSchemaTest.java
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@
 import com.google.protobuf.DynamicMessage;
 import com.google.protobuf.InvalidProtocolBufferException;
 import com.google.protobuf.Message;
+import com.google.protobuf.TextFormat;
+import com.google.protobuf.TextFormat.ParseException;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.extensions.protobuf.Proto3SchemaMessages.EnumMessage;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.extensions.protobuf.Proto3SchemaMessages.MapPrimitive;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.extensions.protobuf.Proto3SchemaMessages.Nested;
@@ -86,6 +88,16 @@ private DynamicMessage toDynamic(Message message) throws InvalidProtocolBufferEx
     return DynamicMessage.parseFrom(message.getDescriptorForType(), message.toByteArray());
   }
 
+  private static <T extends Message.Builder> T parseFrom(String str, T builder) {
+    CharSequence charSequence = str;
+    try {
+      TextFormat.getParser().merge(charSequence, builder);
+    } catch (ParseException e) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
+    }
+    return builder;
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testPrimitiveSchema() {
     ProtoDynamicMessageSchema schemaProvider = schemaFromDescriptor(Primitive.getDescriptor());
@@ -166,7 +178,9 @@ public void testMapProtoToRow() throws InvalidProtocolBufferException {
   public void testMapRowToProto() {
     ProtoDynamicMessageSchema schemaProvider = schemaFromDescriptor(MapPrimitive.getDescriptor());
     SerializableFunction<Row, DynamicMessage> fromRow = schemaProvider.getFromRowFunction();
-    assertEquals(MAP_PRIMITIVE_PROTO.toString(), fromRow.apply(MAP_PRIMITIVE_ROW).toString());
+    MapPrimitive proto =
+        parseFrom(fromRow.apply(MAP_PRIMITIVE_ROW).toString(), MapPrimitive.newBuilder()).build();
+    assertEquals(MAP_PRIMITIVE_PROTO, proto);
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -180,8 +194,10 @@ public void testNullMapProtoToRow() throws InvalidProtocolBufferException {
   public void testNullMapRowToProto() {
     ProtoDynamicMessageSchema schemaProvider = schemaFromDescriptor(MapPrimitive.getDescriptor());
     SerializableFunction<Row, DynamicMessage> fromRow = schemaProvider.getFromRowFunction();
-    assertEquals(
-        NULL_MAP_PRIMITIVE_PROTO.toString(), fromRow.apply(NULL_MAP_PRIMITIVE_ROW).toString());
+    MapPrimitive proto =
+        parseFrom(fromRow.apply(NULL_MAP_PRIMITIVE_ROW).toString(), MapPrimitive.newBuilder())
+            .build();
+    assertEquals(NULL_MAP_PRIMITIVE_PROTO, proto);
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -202,9 +218,8 @@ public void testNestedProtoToRow() throws InvalidProtocolBufferException {
   public void testNestedRowToProto() throws InvalidProtocolBufferException {
     ProtoDynamicMessageSchema schemaProvider = schemaFromDescriptor(Nested.getDescriptor());
     SerializableFunction<Row, DynamicMessage> fromRow = schemaProvider.getFromRowFunction();
-    // equality doesn't work between dynamic messages and other,
-    // so we compare string representation
-    assertEquals(NESTED_PROTO.toString(), fromRow.apply(NESTED_ROW).toString());
+    Nested proto = parseFrom(fromRow.apply(NESTED_ROW).toString(), Nested.newBuilder()).build();
+    assertEquals(NESTED_PROTO, proto);
   }
 
   @Test