OpenAI text-embedding-3-small vs Voyage 3 Large

Detailed comparison between OpenAI text-embedding-3-small and Voyage 3 Large. See which embedding best meets your accuracy and performance needs.

Model Comparison

Voyage 3 Large takes the lead.

Both OpenAI text-embedding-3-small and Voyage 3 Large are powerful embedding models designed to improve retrieval quality in RAG applications. However, their performance characteristics differ in important ways.

Why Voyage 3 Large:

  • Voyage 3 Large has 25 higher ELO rating
  • Voyage 3 Large delivers better accuracy (nDCG@10: 0.837 vs 0.762)
  • OpenAI text-embedding-3-small is 33519ms faster on average
  • Voyage 3 Large has a 8.0% higher win rate

Overview

Key metrics

ELO Rating

Overall ranking quality

OpenAI text-embedding-3-small

1503

Voyage 3 Large

1528

Win Rate

Head-to-head performance

OpenAI text-embedding-3-small

44.6%

Voyage 3 Large

52.6%

Accuracy (nDCG@10)

Ranking quality metric

OpenAI text-embedding-3-small

0.762

Voyage 3 Large

0.837

Average Latency

Response time

OpenAI text-embedding-3-small

29958ms

Voyage 3 Large

63477ms

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-smallVoyage 3 LargeDescription
Overall Performance
ELO Rating
1503
1528
Overall ranking quality based on pairwise comparisons
Win Rate
44.6%
52.6%
Percentage of comparisons won against other models
Pricing & Availability
Price per 1M tokens
$0.020
$0.180
Cost per million tokens processed
Release Date
2024-01-25
2025-01-07
Model release date
Accuracy Metrics
Avg nDCG@10
0.762
0.837
Normalized discounted cumulative gain at position 10
Performance Metrics
Avg Latency
29958ms
63477ms
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-smallVoyage 3 LargeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
55877ms
93447ms
Average response time
P50
54759ms
91578ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
64259ms
107464ms
90th percentile

business reports

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-smallVoyage 3 LargeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
5645ms
21279ms
Average response time
P50
5532ms
20853ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
6492ms
24471ms
90th percentile

DBPedia

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-smallVoyage 3 LargeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.605
0.675
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.604
0.638
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.230
0.255
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.365
0.362
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
35365ms
97066ms
Average response time
P50
34658ms
95125ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
40670ms
111626ms
90th percentile

FiQa

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-smallVoyage 3 LargeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.635
0.753
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.647
0.780
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.623
0.742
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.681
0.837
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
41338ms
80239ms
Average response time
P50
40511ms
78634ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
47539ms
92275ms
90th percentile

SciFact

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-smallVoyage 3 LargeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.682
0.796
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.707
0.809
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.778
0.840
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.843
0.880
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
55544ms
92317ms
Average response time
P50
54433ms
90471ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
63876ms
106165ms
90th percentile

MSMARCO

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-smallVoyage 3 LargeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.997
0.997
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.990
0.998
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.122
0.122
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.213
0.222
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
35961ms
75502ms
Average response time
P50
35242ms
73992ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
41355ms
86827ms
90th percentile

NorQuAD

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-smallVoyage 3 LargeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
6467ms
11003ms
Average response time
P50
6338ms
10783ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
7437ms
12653ms
90th percentile

ARCD

MetricOpenAI text-embedding-3-smallVoyage 3 LargeDescription
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.855
0.953
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.862
0.960
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.900
0.960
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.920
0.980
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
3464ms
36963ms
Average response time
P50
3395ms
36224ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
3984ms
42507ms
90th percentile

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