diff --git a/cpp/include/cuvs/distance/distance.hpp b/cpp/include/cuvs/distance/distance.hpp
index e4c45605d..42c574e58 100644
--- a/cpp/include/cuvs/distance/distance.hpp
+++ b/cpp/include/cuvs/distance/distance.hpp
@@ -372,6 +372,46 @@ void pairwise_distance(raft::resources const& handle,
                        cuvs::distance::DistanceType metric,
                        float metric_arg = 2.0f);
 
+/**
+ * @brief Compute sparse pairwise distances between x and y, using the provided
+ * input configuration and distance function.
+ *
+ * @code{.cpp}
+ * #include <raft/core/device_resources.hpp>
+ * #include <raft/core/device_csr_matrix.hpp>
+ * #include <raft/core/device_mdspan.hpp>
+ *
+ * int x_n_rows = 100000;
+ * int y_n_rows = 50000;
+ * int n_cols = 10000;
+ *
+ * raft::device_resources handle;
+ * auto x = raft::make_device_csr_matrix<double>(handle, x_n_rows, n_cols);
+ * auto y = raft::make_device_csr_matrix<double>(handle, y_n_rows, n_cols);
+ *
+ * ...
+ * // populate data
+ * ...
+ *
+ * auto out = raft::make_device_matrix<double>(handle, x_nrows, y_nrows);
+ * auto metric = cuvs::distance::DistanceType::L2Expanded;
+ * raft::sparse::distance::pairwise_distance(handle, x.view(), y.view(), out, metric);
+ * @endcode
+ *
+ * @param[in] handle raft::resources
+ * @param[in] x raft::device_csr_matrix_view
+ * @param[in] y raft::device_csr_matrix_view
+ * @param[out] dist raft::device_matrix_view dense matrix
+ * @param[in] metric distance metric to use
+ * @param[in] metric_arg metric argument (used for Minkowski distance)
+ */
+void pairwise_distance(raft::resources const& handle,
+                       raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const double, int, int, int> x,
+                       raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const double, int, int, int> y,
+                       raft::device_matrix_view<double, int, raft::row_major> dist,
+                       cuvs::distance::DistanceType metric,
+                       float metric_arg = 2.0f);
+
 /** @} */  // end group pairwise_distance_runtime
 
 };  // namespace cuvs::distance
diff --git a/cpp/src/distance/sparse_distance.cu b/cpp/src/distance/sparse_distance.cu
index 4891ca1e6..338c4e908 100644
--- a/cpp/src/distance/sparse_distance.cu
+++ b/cpp/src/distance/sparse_distance.cu
@@ -22,12 +22,14 @@
 namespace cuvs {
 namespace distance {
 
-void pairwise_distance(raft::resources const& handle,
-                       raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const float, int, int, int> x,
-                       raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const float, int, int, int> y,
-                       raft::device_matrix_view<float, int, raft::row_major> dist,
-                       cuvs::distance::DistanceType metric,
-                       float metric_arg)
+template <typename ElementType, typename IndexType>
+void pairwise_distance(
+  raft::resources const& handle,
+  raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const ElementType, IndexType, IndexType, IndexType> x,
+  raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const ElementType, IndexType, IndexType, IndexType> y,
+  raft::device_matrix_view<ElementType, IndexType, raft::row_major> dist,
+  cuvs::distance::DistanceType metric,
+  float metric_arg = 2.0f)
 {
   auto x_structure = x.structure_view();
   auto y_structure = y.structure_view();
@@ -42,22 +44,42 @@ void pairwise_distance(raft::resources const& handle,
                "Number of columns in output must be equal to "
                "number of rows in Y");
 
-  detail::sparse::distances_config_t<int, float> input_config(handle);
+  detail::sparse::distances_config_t<IndexType, ElementType> input_config(handle);
   input_config.a_nrows   = x_structure.get_n_rows();
   input_config.a_ncols   = x_structure.get_n_cols();
   input_config.a_nnz     = x_structure.get_nnz();
-  input_config.a_indptr  = const_cast<int*>(x_structure.get_indptr().data());
-  input_config.a_indices = const_cast<int*>(x_structure.get_indices().data());
-  input_config.a_data    = const_cast<float*>(x.get_elements().data());
+  input_config.a_indptr  = const_cast<IndexType*>(x_structure.get_indptr().data());
+  input_config.a_indices = const_cast<IndexType*>(x_structure.get_indices().data());
+  input_config.a_data    = const_cast<ElementType*>(x.get_elements().data());
 
   input_config.b_nrows   = y_structure.get_n_rows();
   input_config.b_ncols   = y_structure.get_n_cols();
   input_config.b_nnz     = y_structure.get_nnz();
-  input_config.b_indptr  = const_cast<int*>(y_structure.get_indptr().data());
-  input_config.b_indices = const_cast<int*>(y_structure.get_indices().data());
-  input_config.b_data    = const_cast<float*>(y.get_elements().data());
+  input_config.b_indptr  = const_cast<IndexType*>(y_structure.get_indptr().data());
+  input_config.b_indices = const_cast<IndexType*>(y_structure.get_indices().data());
+  input_config.b_data    = const_cast<ElementType*>(y.get_elements().data());
 
   pairwiseDistance(dist.data_handle(), input_config, metric, metric_arg);
 }
+
+void pairwise_distance(raft::resources const& handle,
+                       raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const float, int, int, int> x,
+                       raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const float, int, int, int> y,
+                       raft::device_matrix_view<float, int, raft::row_major> dist,
+                       cuvs::distance::DistanceType metric,
+                       float metric_arg)
+{
+  pairwise_distance<float, int>(handle, x, y, dist, metric, metric_arg);
+}
+
+void pairwise_distance(raft::resources const& handle,
+                       raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const double, int, int, int> x,
+                       raft::device_csr_matrix_view<const double, int, int, int> y,
+                       raft::device_matrix_view<double, int, raft::row_major> dist,
+                       cuvs::distance::DistanceType metric,
+                       float metric_arg)
+{
+  pairwise_distance<double, int>(handle, x, y, dist, metric, metric_arg);
+}
 }  // namespace distance
 }  // namespace cuvs