Qwen3 Embedding 4B vs Cohere Embed v3

Detailed comparison between Qwen3 Embedding 4B and Cohere Embed v3. See which embedding best meets your accuracy and performance needs.

Model Comparison

Qwen3 Embedding 4B takes the lead.

Both Qwen3 Embedding 4B 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 Qwen3 Embedding 4B:

  • Qwen3 Embedding 4B delivers better accuracy (nDCG@10: 0.802 vs 0.686)
  • Cohere Embed v3 is 57172ms faster on average

Overview

Key metrics

ELO Rating

Overall ranking quality

Qwen3 Embedding 4B

1496

Cohere Embed v3

1488

Win Rate

Head-to-head performance

Qwen3 Embedding 4B

41.1%

Cohere Embed v3

41.0%

Accuracy (nDCG@10)

Ranking quality metric

Qwen3 Embedding 4B

0.802

Cohere Embed v3

0.686

Average Latency

Response time

Qwen3 Embedding 4B

80021ms

Cohere Embed v3

22849ms

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

MetricQwen3 Embedding 4BCohere Embed v3Description
Overall Performance
ELO Rating
1496
1488
Overall ranking quality based on pairwise comparisons
Win Rate
41.1%
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
2025-06-06
2024-02-07
Model release date
Accuracy Metrics
Avg nDCG@10
0.802
0.686
Normalized discounted cumulative gain at position 10
Performance Metrics
Avg Latency
80021ms
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

MetricQwen3 Embedding 4BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
107349ms
35998ms
Average response time
P50
105202ms
35278ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
123451ms
41398ms
90th percentile

business reports

MetricQwen3 Embedding 4BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
26100ms
4704ms
Average response time
P50
25578ms
4610ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
30015ms
5410ms
90th percentile

DBPedia

MetricQwen3 Embedding 4BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.603
0.634
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.595
0.619
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.234
0.219
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.375
0.353
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
106747ms
30356ms
Average response time
P50
104612ms
29749ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
122759ms
34909ms
90th percentile

FiQa

MetricQwen3 Embedding 4BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.724
0.641
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.759
0.650
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.715
0.639
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.835
0.678
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
120137ms
33241ms
Average response time
P50
117734ms
32576ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
138158ms
38227ms
90th percentile

SciFact

MetricQwen3 Embedding 4BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.695
0.729
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.733
0.769
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.787
0.788
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.893
0.900
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
143712ms
41205ms
Average response time
P50
140838ms
40381ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
165269ms
47386ms
90th percentile

MSMARCO

MetricQwen3 Embedding 4BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
1.000
1.000
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
1.000
0.996
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.123
0.123
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.224
0.218
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
112945ms
30494ms
Average response time
P50
110686ms
29884ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
129887ms
35068ms
90th percentile

NorQuAD

MetricQwen3 Embedding 4BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
13597ms
3703ms
Average response time
P50
13325ms
3629ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
15637ms
4258ms
90th percentile

ARCD

MetricQwen3 Embedding 4BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.915
0.349
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.922
0.398
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.940
0.380
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.960
0.520
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
9581ms
3093ms
Average response time
P50
9389ms
3031ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
11018ms
3557ms
90th percentile

Explore More

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