OpenAI text-embedding-3-small vs Cohere Embed v3
Detailed comparison between OpenAI text-embedding-3-small and Cohere Embed v3. See which embedding best meets your accuracy and performance needs.
Model Comparison
OpenAI text-embedding-3-small takes the lead.
Both OpenAI text-embedding-3-small and Cohere Embed v3 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-small:
- OpenAI text-embedding-3-small has 15 higher ELO rating
- OpenAI text-embedding-3-small delivers better accuracy (nDCG@10: 0.762 vs 0.686)
- Cohere Embed v3 is 7108ms faster on average
Overview
Key metrics
ELO Rating
Overall ranking quality
OpenAI text-embedding-3-small
Cohere Embed v3
Win Rate
Head-to-head performance
OpenAI text-embedding-3-small
Cohere Embed v3
Accuracy (nDCG@10)
Ranking quality metric
OpenAI text-embedding-3-small
Cohere Embed v3
Average Latency
Response time
OpenAI text-embedding-3-small
Cohere Embed v3
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
| Metric | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Cohere Embed v3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Performance | |||
| ELO Rating | 1503 | 1488 | Overall ranking quality based on pairwise comparisons |
| Win Rate | 44.6% | 41.0% | Percentage of comparisons won against other models |
| Pricing & Availability | |||
| Price per 1M tokens | $0.020 | $0.100 | Cost per million tokens processed |
| Release Date | 2024-01-25 | 2024-02-07 | Model release date |
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| Avg nDCG@10 | 0.762 | 0.686 | Normalized discounted cumulative gain at position 10 |
| Performance Metrics | |||
| Avg Latency | 29958ms | 22849ms | 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
| Metric | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Cohere Embed v3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 55877ms | 35998ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 54759ms | 35278ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 64259ms | 41398ms | 90th percentile |
business reports
| Metric | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Cohere Embed v3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 5645ms | 4704ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 5532ms | 4610ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 6492ms | 5410ms | 90th percentile |
DBPedia
| Metric | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Cohere Embed v3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 0.605 | 0.634 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 0.604 | 0.619 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.230 | 0.219 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.365 | 0.353 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 35365ms | 30356ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 34658ms | 29749ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 40670ms | 34909ms | 90th percentile |
FiQa
| Metric | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Cohere Embed v3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 0.635 | 0.641 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 0.647 | 0.650 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.623 | 0.639 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.681 | 0.678 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 41338ms | 33241ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 40511ms | 32576ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 47539ms | 38227ms | 90th percentile |
SciFact
| Metric | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Cohere Embed v3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 0.682 | 0.729 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 0.707 | 0.769 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.778 | 0.788 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.843 | 0.900 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 55544ms | 41205ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 54433ms | 40381ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 63876ms | 47386ms | 90th percentile |
MSMARCO
| Metric | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Cohere Embed v3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 0.997 | 1.000 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 0.990 | 0.996 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.122 | 0.123 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.213 | 0.218 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 35961ms | 30494ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 35242ms | 29884ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 41355ms | 35068ms | 90th percentile |
NorQuAD
| Metric | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Cohere Embed v3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 6467ms | 3703ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 6338ms | 3629ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 7437ms | 4258ms | 90th percentile |
ARCD
| Metric | OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | Cohere Embed v3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 0.855 | 0.349 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 0.862 | 0.398 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.900 | 0.380 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.920 | 0.520 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 3464ms | 3093ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 3395ms | 3031ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 3984ms | 3557ms | 90th percentile |
Explore More
Compare more embeddings
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