Embedding model · OpenAI
OpenAI text-embedding-3-small pricing
Per million tokens
$0.020
Per 100M tokens
$2.00
Cheapest of 7 among 7 embedding model prices in the index. Figures are USD list prices excluding tax.
Price history
Every weekly reading since this item entered the index on 15 August 2026. Dots mark readings where the figure changed.
| Date | Figure | Reading | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-15 | Price ($/Mtok) | $0.020 | — |
| 2026-09-05 | Price ($/Mtok) | $0.020 | — |
Machine-readable: history.json · Every movement also appears in the change log.
What it costs in practice
Computed from the current figures above. Change the assumptions in the RAG cost calculator.
| Workload | Cost |
|---|---|
| One million tokens | $0.020 |
| A 10,000-document corpus (~100M tokens) | $2.00 |
| 1,000 queries a day for a month (50 tokens each) | $0.030 |
| Re-embedding that corpus after a model change | $2.00 |
Compared with the closest alternatives
| Model | $/Mtok | vs this |
|---|---|---|
| Voyage AI voyage-4-lite | $0.020 | +0% |
| Voyage AI voyage-4 | $0.060 | +200% |
| Voyage AI voyage-4-large | $0.120 | +500% |
| Voyage AI voyage-code-4 | $0.120 | +500% |
| Voyage AI voyage-context-4 | $0.120 | +500% |
| OpenAI text-embedding-3-large | $0.130 | +550% |
How to read this page
The figures are the list prices published on the vendor's own pricing page, re-read every week by an automated check that never invents a number: if the page cannot be read, the previous reading is kept and the item is flagged after three missed weeks. Negotiated rates, volume tiers, free credits and regional pricing are not modelled. The methodology describes the process and its limits; the price index shows every embedding model figure side by side.