High-volume cheap batch embeddings
Embed millions of chunks overnight where per-token quality matters less than $/1M and throughput; async/batch APIs preferred.
At a glance — Oct 2026
Updated 2026-10-27 · forward this page: /jtbds/batch-cheap-embeddings#briefScores as of 2026-09-14 (43 days old; Depot marks scores stale after 30 days). The pick is still Depot's current editorial pick; it has not been re-reviewed since. Prices below carry their own dates.
- Depot Pick
- Voyage AI · 8.39/10 for this job (curated estimate, high confidence)
pricePerf + reliability of batch jobs. Distinct from `embeddings` (quality-first RAG). Confidence: high on Voyage/Jina public cards; verify batch SKU names.
- Runner-up
- Jina AI · 8.16/10
Scores higher than the pick on: Developer & agent DX, Privacy / data retention, Lock-in risk (higher = worse).
- When not to use the pick
- Need multilingual/EU-hosted embedders first (Jina), Cohere embed+rerank bundle, or Gemini/OpenAI already in the same bill.
- Lock-in / migration
- Runner-up Jina AI has lower stored lock-in risk (3.5 vs 4.2, 0–10, higher = more lock-in). Self-host fallback listed for this job: BGE-M3, Qwen3-Embedding-0.6B.
- Sourced price (usd_per_million_tokens)
Pick's lowest sourced SKU: voyage-4-lite $0.02 (usd_per_million_tokens) — source, as of 2026-10-03, re-checked 2026-10-27
Cheapest matching SKU: Voyage AI voyage-4-lite $0.02 — source, as of 2026-10-03, re-checked 2026-10-27. The pick is the cheapest.
Price history: first seen 2026-10-03 · last changed no change recorded · history JSON
- Free option
- Failure modes to watch
- Partial tool success: Require a per-item status and a failure count. Success for the task requires the failed count to be zero or explicitly handed to a retry queue.
- Runaway spend: Set a budget and a tool-call cap per task. Alert when spend jumps. Stop the run at the cap instead of summarizing a partial trace as success.
- Stale retrieval: Store the source URL and the time it was fetched. If a newer canonical page exists, or two stored sources disagree, do not answer from the older one.
Cite: Agent Provider Depot, Depot Pick for batch-cheap-embeddings: voyage, scores as of 2026-09-14. Agents: GET /api/decide?jtbd=batch-cheap-embeddings
Free Batch embeddings options · All sourced prices, cheapest first
Voyage AI
pricePerf + reliability of batch jobs. Distinct from `embeddings` (quality-first RAG). Confidence: high on Voyage/Jina public cards; verify batch SKU names.
Pricing (directional): As of 2026-09-14 (docs.voyageai.com/docs/pricing): voyage-4-lite $0.02/1M, voyage-4 $0.06, voyage-4-large / voyage-context-4 / voyage-code-4 $0.12 (200M free tokens on those families). rerank-3 $0.05/1M and rerank-3-lite $0.02/1M (200M free…
Lock-in risk: higher = more lock-in (worse). Overall already inverts this dimension.
Depot pick for RAG rerank. Keep Cohere as general embeddings default (enterprise + multilingual maturity); switch to Voyage when retrieval nDCG dominates and you want the cheap lite SKU + rerank-3 in one vendor.
Quote for High-volume cheap batch embeddings
Depot Pick stays Voyage AI. Prices below are sourced SKU rows only (as of 2026-10-27). Input and output are not blended. GET /api/quote?jtbd=batch-cheap-embeddings
Only 1 candidate has a matching Embedding $/1M; nothing was compared, so pickIsPriceWinner is null.
- rerank-3 usd_per_million_tokens $0.05 source as of 2026-10-03
- rerank-3-lite usd_per_million_tokens $0.02 source as of 2026-10-03
- voyage-4 usd_per_million_tokens $0.06 source as of 2026-10-03
- voyage-4-large usd_per_million_tokens $0.12 source as of 2026-10-03
- voyage-4-lite usd_per_million_tokens $0.02 source as of 2026-10-03
- voyage-code-4 usd_per_million_tokens $0.12 source as of 2026-10-03
- voyage-context-4 usd_per_million_tokens $0.12 source as of 2026-10-03
0 of 5 candidates have no sourced price row. 4 are excluded from the Embedding $/1M comparison (embedding). min sourced embedding SKU among candidates; per million embedding tokens; not a chat model; not quality-adjusted
Runners-up
Jina AI
Promoted high after pinning official models API token matrix ($0.05/1M). Best as EU-friendly all-in-one…
Cohere
Use for retrieval stacks (embed+rerank), not as your primary agent brain. Quietly excellent at enterprise RAG.
OpenAI
Default when you want maximum capability and ecosystem glue. Multi-home critical paths behind OpenAI-compat…
Google AI (Gemini)
Best value frontier stack and multimodal king. Use Flash for high-volume agent loops; Pro when quality…
When NOT to use the top pick
Need multilingual/EU-hosted embedders first (Jina), Cohere embed+rerank bundle, or Gemini/OpenAI already in the same bill.
Full ranking (score table)
Ranked with this JTBD's weights. Scores are curated estimates unless marked otherwise. Agents: prefer /api/decide then this table for tie-breaks.
| # | Provider | Overall | Fit | $/perf | Latency | DX | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Voyage AIDepot Pick | 8.4 | 9.2 | 8.8 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 2026-09-14 |
| 2 | Google AI (Gemini) | 8.4 | 9.2 | 8.8 | 8.5 | 8.2 | 2026-10-19 |
| 3 | Jina AI | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 7.8 | 8.8 | 2026-09-14 |
| 4 | Cohere | 7.9 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 2026-10-19 |
| 5 | OpenAI | 7.7 | 9.6 | 6.2 | 8.8 | 9.5 | 2026-09-14 |
Score methodology for this job
pricePerf + reliability of batch jobs. Distinct from `embeddings` (quality-first RAG). Confidence: high on Voyage/Jina public cards; verify batch SKU names.
capabilityFit: 18%pricePerformance: 32%latencyReliability: 14%developerDx: 12%privacyPosture: 8%lockInRisk: 8%maturity: 8%