Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
At a Glance
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $0.050Openrouter ↗ · Sep 23, 2026 | Not reported |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $0.080Openrouter ↗ · Sep 23, 2026 | Not reported |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 131K | 1,049K |
| Model facts checked | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → | Sep 3, 2026View model evidence → |
Token prices are the lowest available sourced USD rates; input and output may use different providers. Cost ranking estimates output spend on LiveBench, not a full request bill. Ranking methodology →
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-13-d25aabda0010 · arena_rating · leader | 1,186.4889% of row best · rating · llama-3.1-8b-instruct; 95% CI [1182.38141125, 1190.58254982]; votes 49605; rank 313 | 1,330.72100% of row best · rating · nvidia-nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b-nvfp4; 95% CI [1323.44362436, 1337.99938875]; votes 8338; rank 213 |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above | 0 benchmark winsNo overall winner | 1 benchmark winNo overall winner |
Third-party benchmark Only like-for-like primary-publisher results are shown; raw scores, relative scores, configuration, and token spend remain visible.
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Meta | NVIDIA |
| Family | Llama 3 1 8b Instruct | Nvidia Nemotron 3 5 Lightning |
| Model | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
| Version | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2024-07-23 | 2026-08-11 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 131K | 1,049K |
| Total parameters | 8B | 30B |
| Active parameters | Unknown | 3B |
| License | llama3.1 | openmdw-1.1 |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Provider access | Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard) | Fireworks Ai (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, tools | agents, chat, generation, reasoning, tools |
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct Capabilities
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Capabilities
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Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct vs NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B FAQs
Is Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
Only Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a directly sourced input price: $0.050 per million tokens. Only Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has a directly sourced output price: $0.080 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has the larger sourced context window. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct supports 131K and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B supports 1,049K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: At least two independently verified, protocol-matched benchmarks are required for an overall winner.
Can Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: supported. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is open weight; NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is open weight.
Can Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B understand images?+
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is not documented with image input; NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is not documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is — and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is —.
Do Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B support reasoning and tool use?+
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct: tool calling. NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: reasoning and tool calling. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has 2 sourced provider routes; NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has 1, so Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.