MiniMax M3 vs NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
Model Markets Rankings
Intelligence, Cost, and Efficiency
| Ranking | MiniMax-M3 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| CostLower is better · Published-token output estimate | #4 of 36$0.017 per LiveBench case | UnrankedNot in the 36-model eligible cohort |
Ranks come from the current complete eligible cohorts. Green highlights appear only when both models are ranked in the same metric. Missing required inputs remain unranked, and the three dimensions are not collapsed into an overall winner.
Benchmark Performance
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M3 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-01-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,435.20100% of row best · rating · minimax-m3; 95% CI [1430.86827835, 1439.53977389]; votes 44544; rank 77 | 1,331.8493% of row best · rating · nvidia-nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b-nvfp4; 95% CI [1322.39322537, 1341.28358716]; votes 4533; rank 207 |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above | 1 benchmark winOverall lead | 0 benchmark wins |
Third-party benchmark Only like-for-like primary-publisher results are shown; raw scores, relative scores, configuration, and token spend remain visible.
Technical Differences
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | MiniMax-M3 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | MiniMax | NVIDIA |
| Family | Minimax M3 | Nvidia Nemotron 3 5 Lightning |
| Model | MiniMax-M3 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
| Version | MiniMax-M3 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-06-01 | 2026-08-11 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 1,049K | 1,049K |
| Total parameters | 427B | 30B |
| Active parameters | 23B | 3B |
| License | other | openmdw-1.1 |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Provider access | Deepinfra (Standard), Fireworks Ai (Standard), Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard), Together Ai (Standard) | Fireworks Ai (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, tools | agents, chat, generation, reasoning, tools |
17 comparable fields · 11 material differences · Pair passes the primary-source comparison gate
MiniMax M3 Capabilities
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Capabilities
Internal Comparison Graph
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Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
MiniMax M3 vs NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B FAQs
Is MiniMax M3 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both MiniMax M3 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, MiniMax M3 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
Only MiniMax M3 has a directly sourced input price: $0.28 per million tokens. Only MiniMax M3 has a directly sourced output price: $1.10 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, MiniMax M3 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
Neither model has a larger sourced context window in this comparison. MiniMax M3 is 1,049K and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is 1,049K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, MiniMax M3 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 MiniMax M3 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: supported. MiniMax M3 is open weight; NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is open weight.
Can MiniMax M3 and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B understand images?+
MiniMax M3 is 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, MiniMax M3 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. MiniMax M3 is — and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is —.
Do MiniMax M3 and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B support reasoning and tool use?+
MiniMax M3: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. 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, MiniMax M3 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?+
MiniMax M3 has 5 sourced provider routes; NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has 1, so MiniMax M3 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, MiniMax M3 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.