BGE Large v1.5 vs Arctic Large

Compare BGE Large v1.5 and Arctic Large: pricing, performance, context window, latency, and best use cases. Side-by-side comparison on XALEN.

Updated 2026-05-21 · By Abhishek Raj · Our methodology

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Feature BGE Large v1.5 Arctic Large
CategoryEmbeddingEnterprise
Parameters326M480B (17B active)
Context Window512128K
Input Price$0.001/1M tokens$0.06/1M tokens
Output PriceN/A/1M tokens$0.10/1M tokens
Latency~15ms~400ms

Choose BGE Large v1.5 when:

  • ✓ Budget RAG
  • ✓ Knowledge bases
  • ✓ Document clustering
Key Strengths:

Very low cost, Good multilingual, Fast

Choose Arctic Large when:

  • ✓ Data analysis
  • ✓ SQL generation
  • ✓ Business intelligence
Key Strengths:

Strong SQL, Data analysis, Enterprise features

Verdict: BGE Large v1.5 vs Arctic Large

For cost efficiency, BGE Large v1.5 wins at $0.001/1M input tokens. For speed, BGE Large v1.5 is faster at ~15ms. BGE Large v1.5 excels at Budget RAG while Arctic Large is better for Data analysis. Both are available on XALEN through a single API — try them in the Playground to see which fits your workload.

Detailed Analysis

Pricing Comparison

BGE Large v1.5 costs $0.001/1M input tokens and N/A/1M output tokens. Arctic Large costs $0.06 input and $0.10 output. BGE Large v1.5 is 60.0x cheaper on input tokens. XALEN offers batch processing at 50% discount on both models.

Performance & Context

BGE Large v1.5 has a 512 context window with ~15ms latency. Arctic Large offers 128K context at ~400ms. Arctic Large has the larger context window.

Best For

BGE Large v1.5 (Embedding) is optimized for: Budget RAG, Knowledge bases, Document clustering. Arctic Large (Enterprise) works best for: Data analysis, SQL generation, Business intelligence.

Try Both on XALEN

Both models are available through XALEN's OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between them by changing the model parameter:

from xalen import XALEN

client = XALEN(api_key="xln_test_YOUR_KEY")

# Use BGE Large v1.5
response_a = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="bge-large-v1-5",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

# Use Arctic Large
response_b = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="arctic-large",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your question here"}]
)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, BGE Large v1.5 or Arctic Large?

BGE Large v1.5 (Embedding, 326M) offers Very low cost. Arctic Large (Enterprise, 480B (17B active)) offers Strong SQL. Choose BGE Large v1.5 for Budget RAG or Arctic Large for Data analysis.

How much does BGE Large v1.5 cost vs Arctic Large?

BGE Large v1.5: $0.001/1M input, N/A/1M output. Arctic Large: $0.06/1M input, $0.10/1M output. Both available on XALEN with batch processing at 50% discount.

Can I use both models on XALEN?

Yes. XALEN provides 200+ models through a single OpenAI-compatible API. Switch between BGE Large v1.5 and Arctic Large by changing the model parameter. No code changes needed.

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Last updated: 2026-05-21. Pricing and specifications may change. Check pricing page for latest rates.