Qwen3 Embedding 4B vs BAAI/bge-m3
Detailed comparison between Qwen3 Embedding 4B and BAAI/bge-m3. See which embedding best meets your accuracy and performance needs.
Model Comparison
Qwen3 Embedding 4B takes the lead.
Both Qwen3 Embedding 4B and BAAI/bge-m3 are powerful embedding models designed to improve retrieval quality in RAG applications. However, their performance characteristics differ in important ways.
Why Qwen3 Embedding 4B:
- Qwen3 Embedding 4B delivers better accuracy (nDCG@10: 0.802 vs 0.753)
Overview
Key metrics
ELO Rating
Overall ranking quality
Qwen3 Embedding 4B
BAAI/bge-m3
Win Rate
Head-to-head performance
Qwen3 Embedding 4B
BAAI/bge-m3
Accuracy (nDCG@10)
Ranking quality metric
Qwen3 Embedding 4B
BAAI/bge-m3
Average Latency
Response time
Qwen3 Embedding 4B
BAAI/bge-m3
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 | Qwen3 Embedding 4B | BAAI/bge-m3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Performance | |||
| ELO Rating | 1496 | 1491 | Overall ranking quality based on pairwise comparisons |
| Win Rate | 41.1% | 40.9% | Percentage of comparisons won against other models |
| Pricing & Availability | |||
| Price per 1M tokens | $0.020 | $0.010 | Cost per million tokens processed |
| Dimensions | 2560 | 1024 | Vector embedding dimensions (lower is more efficient) |
| Release Date | 2025-06-06 | 2024-01-27 | Model release date |
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| Avg nDCG@10 | 0.802 | 0.753 | Normalized discounted cumulative gain at position 10 |
| Performance Metrics | |||
| Avg Latency | 27ms | 29ms | 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 | Qwen3 Embedding 4B | BAAI/bge-m3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 18ms | 16ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 18ms | 16ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 21ms | 19ms | 90th percentile |
business reports
| Metric | Qwen3 Embedding 4B | BAAI/bge-m3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 37ms | 34ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 36ms | 33ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 42ms | 39ms | 90th percentile |
DBPedia
| Metric | Qwen3 Embedding 4B | BAAI/bge-m3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 0.603 | 0.625 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 0.595 | 0.603 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.234 | 0.236 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.375 | 0.341 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 21ms | 17ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 21ms | 17ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 24ms | 20ms | 90th percentile |
FiQa
| Metric | Qwen3 Embedding 4B | BAAI/bge-m3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 0.724 | 0.597 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 0.759 | 0.609 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.715 | 0.607 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.835 | 0.666 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 24ms | 32ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 23ms | 31ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 27ms | 37ms | 90th percentile |
SciFact
| Metric | Qwen3 Embedding 4B | BAAI/bge-m3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 0.695 | 0.578 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 0.733 | 0.617 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.787 | 0.652 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.893 | 0.763 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 28ms | 31ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 28ms | 30ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 33ms | 35ms | 90th percentile |
MSMARCO
| Metric | Qwen3 Embedding 4B | BAAI/bge-m3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 1.000 | 0.997 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 1.000 | 0.997 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.123 | 0.122 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.224 | 0.220 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 22ms | 19ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 22ms | 18ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 26ms | 22ms | 90th percentile |
NorQuAD
| Metric | Qwen3 Embedding 4B | BAAI/bge-m3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 33ms | 41ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 33ms | 40ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 38ms | 47ms | 90th percentile |
ARCD
| Metric | Qwen3 Embedding 4B | BAAI/bge-m3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy Metrics | |||
| nDCG@5 | 0.915 | 0.941 | Ranking quality at top 5 results |
| nDCG@10 | 0.922 | 0.941 | Ranking quality at top 10 results |
| Recall@5 | 0.940 | 0.960 | % of relevant docs in top 5 |
| Recall@10 | 0.960 | 0.960 | % of relevant docs in top 10 |
| Latency Metrics | |||
| Mean | 33ms | 40ms | Average response time |
| P50 | 32ms | 40ms | 50th percentile (median) |
| P90 | 38ms | 47ms | 90th percentile |
Explore More
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