BAAI/bge-m3 vs OpenAI text-embedding-3-large

Detailed comparison between BAAI/bge-m3 and OpenAI text-embedding-3-large. See which embedding best meets your accuracy and performance needs.

Model Comparison

OpenAI text-embedding-3-large takes the lead.

Both BAAI/bge-m3 and OpenAI text-embedding-3-large are powerful embedding models designed to improve retrieval quality in RAG applications. However, their performance characteristics differ in important ways.

Why OpenAI text-embedding-3-large:

  • OpenAI text-embedding-3-large has 48 higher ELO rating
  • OpenAI text-embedding-3-large delivers better accuracy (nDCG@10: 0.811 vs 0.753)
  • OpenAI text-embedding-3-large is 47952ms faster on average
  • OpenAI text-embedding-3-large has a 14.8% higher win rate

Overview

Key metrics

ELO Rating

Overall ranking quality

BAAI/bge-m3

1491

OpenAI text-embedding-3-large

1539

Win Rate

Head-to-head performance

BAAI/bge-m3

40.9%

OpenAI text-embedding-3-large

55.7%

Accuracy (nDCG@10)

Ranking quality metric

BAAI/bge-m3

0.753

OpenAI text-embedding-3-large

0.811

Average Latency

Response time

BAAI/bge-m3

80874ms

OpenAI text-embedding-3-large

32922ms

Visual Performance Analysis

Performance

ELO Rating Comparison

Win/Loss/Tie Breakdown

Accuracy Across Datasets (nDCG@10)

Latency Distribution (ms)

Breakdown

How the models stack up

MetricBAAI/bge-m3OpenAI text-embedding-3-largeDescription
Overall Performance
ELO Rating
1491
1539
Overall ranking quality based on pairwise comparisons
Win Rate
40.9%
55.7%
Percentage of comparisons won against other models
Pricing & Availability
Price per 1M tokens
$0.010
$0.130
Cost per million tokens processed
Release Date
2024-01-27
2024-01-25
Model release date
Accuracy Metrics
Avg nDCG@10
0.753
0.811
Normalized discounted cumulative gain at position 10
Performance Metrics
Avg Latency
80874ms
32922ms
Average response time across all datasets

Dataset Performance

By field

Comprehensive comparison of accuracy metrics (nDCG, Recall) and latency percentiles for each benchmark dataset.

PG

MetricBAAI/bge-m3OpenAI text-embedding-3-largeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
96375ms
57366ms
Average response time
P50
94448ms
56219ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
110831ms
65971ms
90th percentile

business reports

MetricBAAI/bge-m3OpenAI text-embedding-3-largeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
24163ms
8013ms
Average response time
P50
23680ms
7853ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
27787ms
9215ms
90th percentile

DBPedia

MetricBAAI/bge-m3OpenAI text-embedding-3-largeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.625
0.648
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.603
0.641
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.236
0.255
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.341
0.377
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
86619ms
42058ms
Average response time
P50
84887ms
41217ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
99612ms
48367ms
90th percentile

FiQa

MetricBAAI/bge-m3OpenAI text-embedding-3-largeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.597
0.730
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.609
0.752
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.607
0.700
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.666
0.781
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
159871ms
48635ms
Average response time
P50
156674ms
47662ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
183852ms
55930ms
90th percentile

SciFact

MetricBAAI/bge-m3OpenAI text-embedding-3-largeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.578
0.726
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.617
0.761
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.652
0.768
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.763
0.863
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
154804ms
55796ms
Average response time
P50
151708ms
54680ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
178025ms
64165ms
90th percentile

MSMARCO

MetricBAAI/bge-m3OpenAI text-embedding-3-largeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.997
1.000
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.997
1.000
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.122
0.123
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.220
0.224
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
96153ms
41860ms
Average response time
P50
94230ms
41023ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
110576ms
48139ms
90th percentile

NorQuAD

MetricBAAI/bge-m3OpenAI text-embedding-3-largeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
16285ms
5613ms
Average response time
P50
15959ms
5501ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
18728ms
6455ms
90th percentile

ARCD

MetricBAAI/bge-m3OpenAI text-embedding-3-largeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.941
0.899
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.941
0.899
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.960
0.940
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.960
0.940
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
12723ms
4036ms
Average response time
P50
12469ms
3955ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
14631ms
4641ms
90th percentile

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