OpenAI text-embedding-3-large vs Qwen3 Embedding 0.6B

Detailed comparison between OpenAI text-embedding-3-large and Qwen3 Embedding 0.6B. See which embedding best meets your accuracy and performance needs.

Model Comparison

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

Both OpenAI text-embedding-3-large and Qwen3 Embedding 0.6B 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 60 higher ELO rating
  • OpenAI text-embedding-3-large delivers better accuracy (nDCG@10: 0.811 vs 0.751)
  • OpenAI text-embedding-3-large has a 18.5% higher win rate

Overview

Key metrics

ELO Rating

Overall ranking quality

OpenAI text-embedding-3-large

1539

Qwen3 Embedding 0.6B

1478

Win Rate

Head-to-head performance

OpenAI text-embedding-3-large

55.7%

Qwen3 Embedding 0.6B

37.3%

Accuracy (nDCG@10)

Ranking quality metric

OpenAI text-embedding-3-large

0.811

Qwen3 Embedding 0.6B

0.751

Average Latency

Response time

OpenAI text-embedding-3-large

11ms

Qwen3 Embedding 0.6B

22ms

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

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Overall Performance
ELO Rating
1539
1478
Overall ranking quality based on pairwise comparisons
Win Rate
55.7%
37.3%
Percentage of comparisons won against other models
Pricing & Availability
Price per 1M tokens
$0.130
$0.010
Cost per million tokens processed
Dimensions
3072
1024
Vector embedding dimensions (lower is more efficient)
Release Date
2024-01-25
2025-06-06
Model release date
Accuracy Metrics
Avg nDCG@10
0.811
0.751
Normalized discounted cumulative gain at position 10
Performance Metrics
Avg Latency
11ms
22ms
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

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
10ms
13ms
Average response time
P50
10ms
13ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
11ms
15ms
90th percentile

business reports

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
10ms
22ms
Average response time
P50
10ms
21ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
12ms
25ms
90th percentile

DBPedia

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.648
0.549
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.641
0.556
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.255
0.216
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.377
0.350
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
8ms
13ms
Average response time
P50
8ms
13ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
9ms
15ms
90th percentile

FiQa

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.730
0.620
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.752
0.647
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.700
0.590
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.781
0.680
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
10ms
42ms
Average response time
P50
9ms
41ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
11ms
49ms
90th percentile

SciFact

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.726
0.666
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.761
0.686
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.768
0.723
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.863
0.783
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
11ms
20ms
Average response time
P50
11ms
19ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
13ms
23ms
90th percentile

MSMARCO

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
1.000
0.997
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
1.000
0.992
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.123
0.122
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.224
0.215
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
8ms
13ms
Average response time
P50
8ms
13ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
9ms
15ms
90th percentile

NorQuAD

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
14ms
32ms
Average response time
P50
14ms
31ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
16ms
36ms
90th percentile

ARCD

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.899
0.865
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.899
0.872
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.940
0.880
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.940
0.900
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
14ms
23ms
Average response time
P50
14ms
23ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
16ms
27ms
90th percentile

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