NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs GPT-5.1
At a Glance
| Compare |  GPT-5.1OpenAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence, Cost, and Efficiency | ||
| IntelligenceHigher is better · MM Intelligence v2.5 | UnrankedNot in the 46-model eligible cohort | #37 of 4625.7 score · 2/3 sources · provisional · missing LiveBench · full-core range 17.1–50.5 |
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $1.25Openai ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $10.00Openai ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 1,049K | 400K |
| Model facts checked | Sep 3, 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 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | GPT-5.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-13-d25aabda0010 · arena_rating · leader | 1,330.7294% of row best · rating · nvidia-nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b-nvfp4; 95% CI [1323.44362436, 1337.99938875]; votes 8338; rank 213 | 1,422.57100% of row best · rating · gpt-5.1; 95% CI [1418.95842118, 1426.18777801]; votes 42982; rank 100 |
| 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 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | GPT-5.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | NVIDIA | OpenAI |
| Family | Nvidia Nemotron 3 5 Lightning | Gpt 5 1 |
| Model | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | GPT-5.1 |
| Version | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | GPT-5.1 |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-08-11 | 2025-11-13 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | 2024-09-30 |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 1,049K | 400K |
| Total parameters | 30B | Unknown |
| Active parameters | 3B | Unknown |
| License | openmdw-1.1 | Unknown |
| Open weights | Yes | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Provider access | Fireworks Ai (Standard) | Openai (Standard), Openrouter (Standard) |
| Capabilities | agents, chat, generation, reasoning, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools |
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Capabilities
GPT-5.1 Capabilities
Related Comparisons
All text comparisons →| A | Pair | B | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| vs | GPT-6 AstraOpenAI | cross-developer peerstext | |
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
 Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle DeepMind | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
 DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs | Grok 4.6xAI | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs |  Qwen3.8-MaxQwen | cross-developer peerstext | |
 Kimi-K3Moonshot AI | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
 MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs |  GLM-5.3Z.ai | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs |  Hy4 previewTencent | cross-developer peerstext | |
Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
 Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | vs | cross-developer peerstext |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs GPT-5.1 FAQs
Is NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or GPT-5.1 better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and GPT-5.1, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or GPT-5.1?+
Only GPT-5.1 has a directly sourced input price: $1.25 per million tokens. Only GPT-5.1 has a directly sourced output price: $10.00 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or GPT-5.1?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has the larger sourced context window. NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B supports 1,049K and GPT-5.1 supports 400K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or GPT-5.1?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: At least two independently verified, protocol-matched benchmarks are required for an overall winner.
Can NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or GPT-5.1 be self-hosted?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the only model in this pair currently marked as self-hostable. NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is open weight; GPT-5.1 is not marked open weight.
Can NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and GPT-5.1 understand images?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is not documented with image input; GPT-5.1 is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or GPT-5.1?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is — and GPT-5.1 is 128K.
Do NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and GPT-5.1 support reasoning and tool use?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: reasoning and tool calling. GPT-5.1: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or GPT-5.1?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has 1 sourced provider route; GPT-5.1 has 2, so GPT-5.1 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or GPT-5.1?+
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.