text-embedding-3-small
text-embedding-3-small is OpenAI's cheaper January 2024 embedding snapshot, still listed, not an unverified 2026 crown. openai.com/api/pricing still lists text-embedding-3-small at $0.020 / 1M tokens, beside text-embedding-3-large at $0.130 / 1M and leftover text-embedding-ada-002 at $0.100 / 1M.
Compare leftover text-embedding-3-large if you wanted the still-listed larger v3 row, leftover text-embedding-ada-002 if you wanted the older ada page, and leftover Qwen3-Embedding if you wanted a newer open embedding family.
Key Features
- Still a listed cheaper v3 row: First-party pricing still prints $0.020 / 1M.
- Not a 2026 crown: Do not keep leftover milestone / 23% MTEB copy as an audited 2026 score.
- Not ada-002: The older leftover page stays $0.100 / 1M.
- Website is the pricing page: Point at the live embeddings block, not platform API keys.
Use Cases
- People with a 3-small bookmark who need the leftover upgrade copy dropped.
- People who were about to paste a 23% MTEB lift into a 2026 deck.
Limitation: We did not re-run MTEB. Confirm first-party cards before you quote a 2026 score.
Pricing
First-party pages on 2026-08-18.
| Piece | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| text-embedding-3-small | $0.020 / 1M | Still listed on pricing. |
| text-embedding-3-large | $0.130 / 1M | text-embedding-3-large. |
| text-embedding-ada-002 | $0.100 / 1M | text-embedding-ada-002. |
If a leftover blog still calls 3-small the current embedding milestone, treat the 2026 pricing block as the correction.
Getting Started
- Open openai.com/api/pricing and confirm the 3-small row.
- Confirm leftover text-embedding-3-large if you wanted the larger v3 twin.
- Confirm leftover text-embedding-ada-002 if production is still on ada.
- Do not paste leftover 23% MTEB into a 2026 deck.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 3-small still listed?
Yes. First-party pricing still prints $0.020 / 1M.
Is it the 2026 embedding default?
Do not call it a crown. Confirm the live embeddings block before you pin a 2026 default.
Same as ada-002?
No. text-embedding-ada-002 is the older leftover at $0.100 / 1M.
Alternatives
- text-embedding-3-large: Still-listed larger v3 row.
- text-embedding-ada-002: Older leftover ada snapshot.
- Qwen3-Embedding: Newer open embedding family, also being rewritten as leftover.
Tips
- Call 3-small a still-listed cheaper v3 snapshot, not a 2026 crown.
- Quote $0.020 / 1M only while first-party still prints it.
- Confirm first-party cards before you invent an MTEB lift.
Conclusion
text-embedding-3-small is a leftover cheaper v3 snapshot still listed at $0.020 / 1M, not a 2026 embedding crown. Start at openai.com/api/pricing, then decide whether leftover text-embedding-3-large already covers the larger v3 path.
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