NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Grok 4.6
Model Markets Rankings
Intelligence, Cost, and Efficiency
| Ranking | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | Grok 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| CostLower is better · Published-token output estimate | UnrankedNot in the 36-model eligible cohort | #18 of 36$0.097 per LiveBench case |
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 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | Grok 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-01-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,331.8492% of row best · rating · nvidia-nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b-nvfp4; 95% CI [1322.39322537, 1341.28358716]; votes 4533; rank 207 | 1,443.75100% of row best · rating · grok-4.6-high; 95% CI [1433.62910542, 1453.86294509]; votes 3453; rank 55 |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above | 0 benchmark wins | 1 benchmark winOverall lead |
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 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | Grok 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | NVIDIA | xAI |
| Family | Nvidia Nemotron 3 5 Lightning | Grok 4 |
| Model | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | Grok 4.6 |
| Version | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | Grok 4.6 |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-08-11 | Unknown |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | 2026-02-01 |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 1,049K | 500K |
| 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) | Xai (Standard) |
| Capabilities | agents, chat, generation, reasoning, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, tools |
13 comparable fields · 10 material differences · Pair passes the primary-source comparison gate
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Capabilities
Grok 4.6 Capabilities
Internal Comparison Graph
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Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Grok 4.6 FAQs
Is NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Grok 4.6 better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Grok 4.6, 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 Grok 4.6?+
Only Grok 4.6 has a directly sourced input price: $2.00 per million tokens. Only Grok 4.6 has a directly sourced output price: $6.00 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Grok 4.6?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has the larger sourced context window. NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B supports 1,049K and Grok 4.6 supports 500K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Grok 4.6?+
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 Grok 4.6 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; Grok 4.6 is not marked open weight.
Can NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Grok 4.6 understand images?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is not documented with image input; Grok 4.6 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 Grok 4.6?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is — and Grok 4.6 is —.
Do NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Grok 4.6 support reasoning and tool use?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: reasoning and tool calling. Grok 4.6: 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 Grok 4.6?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has 1 sourced provider route; Grok 4.6 has 1, a tie.
Which offers better value, NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Grok 4.6?+
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.