# OpenAI text-embedding-ada-002 — deprecation status

> No — text-embedding-ada-002 is not deprecated as of July 30, 2026. OpenAI has announced neither a deprecation nor a shutdown date for it. text-embedding-3-small is a newer alternative, but this model is not being retired.

The embedding model behind most retrieval systems built between 2022 and 2024, and one of the most commonly assumed-dead ids on the platform. It is not on OpenAI's deprecations page: re-embedding a corpus is expensive enough that the old vectors have to keep working, so this one has outlived every chat model of its era.

## Facts

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Provider | OpenAI |
| Model id | `text-embedding-ada-002` |
| Status | Active |
| Released | December 15, 2022 |
| Last verified | July 30, 2026 |

## Replacement

- **text-embedding-3-small** (`text-embedding-3-small`) — https://modeldeprecations.dev/openai/text-embedding-3-small
  - Not a deprecation — but 3-small is cheaper and scores better. Only worth it if you can afford to re-embed everything, since vectors from the two models are not comparable.
  - Parameters it accepts: https://modelparams.dev/models/openai/text-embedding-3-small

```diff
- "model": "text-embedding-ada-002"
+ "model": "text-embedding-3-small"
```

## FAQ

### What replaces OpenAI text-embedding-ada-002?

OpenAI recommends text-embedding-3-small (`text-embedding-3-small`) as the replacement for OpenAI text-embedding-ada-002. Not a deprecation — but 3-small is cheaper and scores better. Only worth it if you can afford to re-embed everything, since vectors from the two models are not comparable.

### Is OpenAI text-embedding-ada-002 still available?

Yes. OpenAI text-embedding-ada-002 is active and fully supported as of July 30, 2026.

### How do I migrate from OpenAI text-embedding-ada-002 to text-embedding-3-small?

Swap the model id in your API call: replace "text-embedding-ada-002" with "text-embedding-3-small". Not a deprecation — but 3-small is cheaper and scores better. Only worth it if you can afford to re-embed everything, since vectors from the two models are not comparable.

## Sources

- [OpenAI API deprecations](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/deprecations) — accessed 2026-07-30

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Canonical page: https://modeldeprecations.dev/openai/text-embedding-ada-002
JSON: https://modeldeprecations.dev/api/v1/models/openai/text-embedding-ada-002.json