diff --git a/src/utils/setup/setupPipPack.ts b/src/utils/setup/setupPipPack.ts
index 5f9358d0..3df6f168 100644
--- a/src/utils/setup/setupPipPack.ts
+++ b/src/utils/setup/setupPipPack.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,25 @@
+/* eslint-disable require-atomic-updates */
 import { exec } from "@actions/exec"
 import which from "which"
 import { addPath, startGroup, endGroup } from "@actions/core"
+import { setupPython } from "../../python/python"
+import { isBinUptoDate } from "./version"
+
+let pip: string | undefined
 
 /** A function that installs a package using pip */
 export async function setupPipPack(name: string, version?: string) {
-  // check if it exists
-  const pip = which.sync("pip3", { nothrow: true }) !== null ? "pip3" : "pip"
+  // setup python and pip if needed
+  if (pip === undefined) {
+    if (which.sync("pip3", { nothrow: true }) !== null) {
+      pip = "pip3"
+    } else if (which.sync("pip", { nothrow: true }) !== null && (await isBinUptoDate("python", "3.0.0"))) {
+      pip = "pip"
+    } else {
+      await setupPython("3.x")
+      pip = "pip3"
+    }
+  }
 
   const exit = await exec(pip, ["install", version !== undefined ? `${name}==${version}` : name])
   if (exit !== 0) {