diff --git a/.scala-steward.conf b/.scala-steward.conf
index f22bdfdc3..ec7b9ff41 100644
--- a/.scala-steward.conf
+++ b/.scala-steward.conf
@@ -10,4 +10,6 @@ updates.allowPreReleases = [
   {groupId = "io.opentelemetry.semconv", artifactId = "opentelemetry-semconv"},
   # some instrumentation artifacts are published with `-alpha` suffix
   {groupId = "io.opentelemetry.instrumentation", artifactId = "opentelemetry-runtime-telemetry-java8"},
+  # proto is always published with `-alpha` suffix
+  {groupId = "io.opentelemetry.proto", artifactId = "opentelemetry-proto"}
 ]
diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index c55aa5ecf..5745135cb 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ val OpenTelemetryVersion = "1.44.1"
 val OpenTelemetryInstrumentationVersion = "2.10.0"
 val OpenTelemetryInstrumentationAlphaVersion = "2.10.0-alpha"
 val OpenTelemetrySemConvVersion = "1.28.0-alpha"
-val OpenTelemetryProtoVersion = "1.1.0-alpha"
+val OpenTelemetryProtoVersion = "1.4.0-alpha"
 val PekkoStreamVersion = "1.1.2"
 val PekkoHttpVersion = "1.1.0"
 val PlatformVersion = "1.0.2"