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Head-to-head comparison

Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Mistral Small 3.2 24B (Mistral AI) and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (NVIDIA) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Mistral Small 3.2 24B holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#78 vs #79); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 1.3× cheaper per output token ($0.20/1M vs $0.25/1M); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning offers the longer context window (1M vs 256K tokens); and Mistral Small 3.2 24B ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Mistral Small 3.2 24B if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #78 against #79 (32.7 vs 31.7 points).
  • you want to self-host: Mistral Small 3.2 24B ships open weights while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is restricted license.

Choose Nemotron 3.5 Lightning if…

  • API cost matters — $0.20/1M output tokens against $0.25/1M, about 1.3× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.08/1M against $0.094/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 1M tokens against 256K.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Nemotron 3.5 Lightning was listed 11 August 2026, Mistral Small 3.2 24B 20 June 2025.

Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Mistral Small 3.2 24B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
FieldMistral Small 3.2 24BMistral AINemotron 3.5 LightningNVIDIA
ModelCap Index position#78#79
Index score32.731.7
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.094$0.08
Output price / 1M tokens$0.25$0.20
Context window256K tokens1M tokens
Max output tokens16K131K
API providers listed33
Weight accessOpen weightsRestricted license
Input modalitiesImage, TextText
First listed20 June 202511 August 2026
PublisherMistral AINVIDIA

Evidence: 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards · 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Public benchmark boards where Mistral Small 3.2 24B or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a published result
BoardMistral Small 3.2 24BNemotron 3.5 LightningLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14121402–1422—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—23.6intelligence-indexOnly one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: common questions

Is Mistral Small 3.2 24B better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #78 against #79. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Mistral Small 3.2 24B cheaper than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper on output tokens: $0.20/1M against $0.25/1M. Input tokens are $0.094/1M for Mistral Small 3.2 24B and $0.08/1M for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Mistral Small 3.2 24B or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has the larger context window: 1M tokens against 256K.

Which is better for coding, Mistral Small 3.2 24B or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Mistral Small 3.2 24B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning open-weight models?

Mistral Small 3.2 24B: Open weights. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Restricted license. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Mistral Small 3.2 24B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

ModelCap currently lists 3 API providers for Mistral Small 3.2 24B and 3 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Mistral Small 3.2 24B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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