text-embedding-3-small

text-embedding-3-small is OpenAI's cheaper January 2024 embedding snapshot, still listed, not an unaudited 2026 crown. Rechecked 2026-08-18: leftover copy still called it a significant upgrade over ada-002 and a milestone in OpenAI's embedding line. 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. Drop leftover latest / milestone / 23% MTEB lift as a 2026 census.

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 comparing leftover 3-small vs leftover 3-large vs leftover ada-002.
• People who were about to paste a 23% MTEB lift into a 2026 deck.

Limitation: We did not re-run MTEB. Recheck first-party cards before you quote a 2026 score.

Pricing

First-party pages on 2026-08-18.

If a leftover blog still calls 3-small the current embedding milestone, treat the 2026 pricing block as the correction.

Getting Started

1. Open openai.com/api/pricing and confirm the 3-small row.
2. Recheck leftover text-embedding-3-large if you wanted the larger v3 twin.
3. Recheck leftover text-embedding-ada-002 if production is still on ada.
4. 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. Recheck 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

1. Call 3-small a still-listed cheaper v3 snapshot, not a 2026 crown.
2. Quote $0.020 / 1M only while first-party still prints it.
3. Recheck 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.