diff --git a/.changeset/thirty-keys-study.md b/.changeset/thirty-keys-study.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..310f5bca34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/thirty-keys-study.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/catalog-model': patch
+---
+
+Deprecated the `entity.metadata.generation` field which has been superseded by `entity.metadata.etag`.
diff --git a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/Entity.ts b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/Entity.ts
index 7199334e51..00865c6671 100644
--- a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/Entity.ts
+++ b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/Entity.ts
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ export type EntityMeta = JsonObject & {
    * This field can not be set by the user at creation time, and the server
    * will reject an attempt to do so. The field will be populated in read
    * operations.
+   * @deprecated replaced by etag.
    */
   generation?: number;