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 is 37140ms faster on average
  • 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

32922ms

Qwen3 Embedding 0.6B

70062ms

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
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
32922ms
70062ms
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
57366ms
77697ms
Average response time
P50
56219ms
76143ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
65971ms
89352ms
90th percentile

business reports

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
8013ms
15599ms
Average response time
P50
7853ms
15287ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
9215ms
17939ms
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
42058ms
67654ms
Average response time
P50
41217ms
66301ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
48367ms
77802ms
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
48635ms
212205ms
Average response time
P50
47662ms
207961ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
55930ms
244036ms
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
55796ms
102019ms
Average response time
P50
54680ms
99979ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
64165ms
117322ms
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
41860ms
65717ms
Average response time
P50
41023ms
64403ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
48139ms
75575ms
90th percentile

NorQuAD

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-largeQwen3 Embedding 0.6BDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
5613ms
12763ms
Average response time
P50
5501ms
12508ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
6455ms
14677ms
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
4036ms
6841ms
Average response time
P50
3955ms
6704ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
4641ms
7867ms
90th percentile

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