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Head-to-head comparison

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (NVIDIA) and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B (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, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#79 vs #181); and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning offers the longer context window (1M vs 262K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Nemotron 3.5 Lightning if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #79 against #181 (31.7 vs 18.9 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 1M tokens against 262K.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 23.6 against 7.2.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Nemotron 3.5 Lightning was listed 11 August 2026, Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B 14 December 2025.

Choose Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B if…

  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.05/1M against $0.08/1M.

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B
FieldNemotron 3.5 LightningNVIDIANemotron 3 Nano 30B A3BNVIDIA
ModelCap Index position#79#181
Index score31.718.9
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.08$0.05
Output price / 1M tokens$0.20$0.20
Context window1M tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens131K262K
API providers listed33
Weight accessRestricted licenseRestricted license
Input modalitiesTextText
First listed11 August 202614 December 2025
PublisherNVIDIANVIDIA

Evidence: 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board · 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B

Public benchmark boards where Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B has a published result
BoardNemotron 3.5 LightningNemotron 3 Nano 30B A3BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—13621352–1373BF16Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis23.6intelligence-index7.2intelligence-indexNemotron 3.5 Lightning

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.

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B: common questions

Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better than Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #79 against #181. 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 Nemotron 3.5 Lightning cheaper than Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?

Both list the same output price, $0.20/1M tokens, with input at $0.08/1M and $0.05/1M respectively.

Which has the bigger context window, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has the larger context window: 1M tokens against 262K.

Which is better for coding, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?

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 Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B open-weight models?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Restricted license. Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B: 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 Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?

ModelCap currently lists 3 API providers for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and 3 for Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B 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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