Qwen3 Embedding 8B vs Cohere Embed v3

Detailed comparison between Qwen3 Embedding 8B and Cohere Embed v3. See which embedding best meets your accuracy and performance needs.

Model Comparison

Qwen3 Embedding 8B takes the lead.

Both Qwen3 Embedding 8B 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 8B:

  • Qwen3 Embedding 8B has 27 higher ELO rating
  • Qwen3 Embedding 8B delivers better accuracy (nDCG@10: 0.818 vs 0.686)
  • Qwen3 Embedding 8B has a 6.9% higher win rate

Overview

Key metrics

ELO Rating

Overall ranking quality

Qwen3 Embedding 8B

1516

Cohere Embed v3

1488

Win Rate

Head-to-head performance

Qwen3 Embedding 8B

47.9%

Cohere Embed v3

41.0%

Accuracy (nDCG@10)

Ranking quality metric

Qwen3 Embedding 8B

0.818

Cohere Embed v3

0.686

Average Latency

Response time

Qwen3 Embedding 8B

50ms

Cohere Embed v3

7ms

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 8BCohere Embed v3Description
Overall Performance
ELO Rating
1516
1488
Overall ranking quality based on pairwise comparisons
Win Rate
47.9%
41.0%
Percentage of comparisons won against other models
Pricing & Availability
Price per 1M tokens
$0.050
$0.100
Cost per million tokens processed
Dimensions
4096
1024
Vector embedding dimensions (lower is more efficient)
Release Date
2025-06-06
2024-02-07
Model release date
Accuracy Metrics
Avg nDCG@10
0.818
0.686
Normalized discounted cumulative gain at position 10
Performance Metrics
Avg Latency
50ms
7ms
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 8BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
26ms
6ms
Average response time
P50
25ms
6ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
30ms
7ms
90th percentile

business reports

MetricQwen3 Embedding 8BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
136ms
6ms
Average response time
P50
134ms
6ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
157ms
7ms
90th percentile

DBPedia

MetricQwen3 Embedding 8BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.633
0.634
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.625
0.619
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.235
0.219
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.381
0.353
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
40ms
6ms
Average response time
P50
39ms
6ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
46ms
7ms
90th percentile

FiQa

MetricQwen3 Embedding 8BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.760
0.641
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.781
0.650
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.732
0.639
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.814
0.678
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
38ms
7ms
Average response time
P50
37ms
6ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
43ms
8ms
90th percentile

SciFact

MetricQwen3 Embedding 8BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.750
0.729
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.765
0.769
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.843
0.788
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.883
0.900
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
40ms
8ms
Average response time
P50
39ms
8ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
46ms
9ms
90th percentile

MSMARCO

MetricQwen3 Embedding 8BCohere 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
36ms
6ms
Average response time
P50
35ms
6ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
41ms
7ms
90th percentile

NorQuAD

MetricQwen3 Embedding 8BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
Latency Metrics
Mean
46ms
9ms
Average response time
P50
45ms
9ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
53ms
10ms
90th percentile

ARCD

MetricQwen3 Embedding 8BCohere Embed v3Description
Accuracy Metrics
nDCG@5
0.913
0.349
Ranking quality at top 5 results
nDCG@10
0.919
0.398
Ranking quality at top 10 results
Recall@5
0.920
0.380
% of relevant docs in top 5
Recall@10
0.940
0.520
% of relevant docs in top 10
Latency Metrics
Mean
41ms
11ms
Average response time
P50
40ms
11ms
50th percentile (median)
P90
47ms
12ms
90th percentile

Explore More

Compare more embeddings

See how all embedding models stack up. Compare OpenAI, Cohere, Jina AI, Voyage, and more. View comprehensive benchmarks, compare performance metrics, and find the perfect embedding for your RAG application.