diff --git a/benchmarks/sorters_bench.js b/benchmarks/sorters_bench.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..502a92b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/sorters_bench.js
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+
+import { createExploreDiversitySorter } from "../js/feedEngine/sorters.js";
+
+const NUM_ITEMS = 1000; // Large enough to see the difference between N^3 and N^2
+const TAG_POOL = ["cats", "dogs", "nostr", "bitcoin", "art", "music", "news", "tech", "coding", "python", "javascript", "react", "vue", "angular", "svelte", "deno", "node", "linux", "macos", "windows"];
+
+function randomTags() {
+  const count = Math.floor(Math.random() * 5) + 1;
+  const tags = new Set();
+  while (tags.size < count) {
+    tags.add(TAG_POOL[Math.floor(Math.random() * TAG_POOL.length)]);
+  }
+  return Array.from(tags).map(t => ["t", t]);
+}
+
+function buildItem(i) {
+  return {
+    video: {
+      id: `vid-${i}`,
+      tags: randomTags(),
+      rootCreatedAt: 1000 + i,
+    },
+    metadata: {
+      exploreScore: Math.random(),
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+async function runBenchmark() {
+  const items = [];
+  for (let i = 0; i < NUM_ITEMS; i++) {
+    items.push(buildItem(i));
+  }
+
+  const sorter = createExploreDiversitySorter({ lambda: 0.7 });
+
+  console.log(`Sorting ${NUM_ITEMS} items...`);
+  const start = performance.now();
+  await sorter(items, { addWhy: () => {} });
+  const end = performance.now();
+
+  console.log(`Time: ${(end - start).toFixed(2)}ms`);
+}
+
+runBenchmark();
diff --git a/js/feedEngine/sorters.js b/js/feedEngine/sorters.js
index c4620509..5a264fa8 100644
--- a/js/feedEngine/sorters.js
+++ b/js/feedEngine/sorters.js
@@ -300,8 +300,36 @@ export function createExploreDiversitySorter({
 
     const selected = [];
     const remaining = [...candidates];
+    const candidateState = new Map();
+
+    for (const candidate of remaining) {
+      candidateState.set(candidate, {
+        maxSimilarity: 0,
+        similarItemId: "",
+      });
+    }
 
     while (remaining.length > 0) {
+      if (selected.length > 0) {
+        const lastSelected = selected[selected.length - 1];
+        const lastSelectedVector = vectors.get(lastSelected);
+        const lastSelectedId = stableVideoId(lastSelected);
+
+        for (const candidate of remaining) {
+          const state = candidateState.get(candidate);
+          const candidateVector = vectors.get(candidate);
+          const similarity = cosineSimilarity(
+            candidateVector,
+            lastSelectedVector,
+          );
+
+          if (similarity > state.maxSimilarity) {
+            state.maxSimilarity = similarity;
+            state.similarItemId = lastSelectedId;
+          }
+        }
+      }
+
       let bestCandidate = null;
       let bestMmr = Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
       let bestRaw = Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
@@ -326,22 +354,9 @@ export function createExploreDiversitySorter({
 
       for (const candidate of remaining) {
         const rawScore = normalizeScore(candidate?.metadata?.exploreScore);
-        let penalty = 0;
-        let similarItemId = "";
-
-        if (selected.length > 0) {
-          const candidateVector = vectors.get(candidate);
-          for (const selectedItem of selected) {
-            const similarity = cosineSimilarity(
-              candidateVector,
-              vectors.get(selectedItem),
-            );
-            if (similarity > penalty) {
-              penalty = similarity;
-              similarItemId = stableVideoId(selectedItem);
-            }
-          }
-        }
+        const state = candidateState.get(candidate);
+        const penalty = state.maxSimilarity;
+        const similarItemId = state.similarItemId;
 
         const mmrScore =
           normalizedLambda * rawScore - (1 - normalizedLambda) * penalty;
@@ -404,6 +419,7 @@ export function createExploreDiversitySorter({
       const index = remaining.indexOf(bestCandidate);
       if (index >= 0) {
         remaining.splice(index, 1);
+        candidateState.delete(bestCandidate);
       }
     }