NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 vs NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B
Why this pair: NVIDIA 30B-A3B Nemotron models across Lightning and Nano families
Benchmark Performance
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-01-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,348.42100% of row best · rating · nvidia-nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b-bf16; 95% CI [1342.96803096, 1353.87681829]; votes 15338; rank 191 | 1,331.8499% 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 | NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | NVIDIA | NVIDIA |
| Family | Nvidia Nemotron 3 Nano 30b A3b Bf16 | Nvidia Nemotron 3 5 Lightning |
| Model | NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
| Version | NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2025-12-15 | 2026-08-11 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-11-28 | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 262,144 | 1,048,576 |
| Total parameters | 31,577,937,344 | 30,000,000,000 |
| Active parameters | 3,500,000,000 | 3,000,000,000 |
| License | other | openmdw-1.1 |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| API available | Yes | Unknown |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Provider access | Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard), Together Ai (Standard) | Fireworks Ai (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, tools | agents, chat, generation, reasoning, tools |
16 comparable fields · 10 material differences · Editorially curated pair passes the primary-source comparison gate
NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 Capabilities
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B Capabilities
Internal Comparison Graph
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Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 vs NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B FAQs
Is NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 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, NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B?+
Only NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 has a directly sourced input price: $0.050 per million tokens. Only NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 has a directly sourced output price: $0.20 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B?+
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B has the larger sourced context window. NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 supports 262,144 and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B supports 1,048,576.
Which performs better in benchmarks, NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 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 NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: supported. NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 is open weight; NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B is open weight.
Can NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B understand images?+
NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 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, NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 is 1,048,576 and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B is —.
Do NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B support reasoning and tool use?+
NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16: reasoning and 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, NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 or NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B?+
NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 has 3 sourced provider routes; NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B has 1, so NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, NVIDIA-Nemotron-3-Nano-30B-A3B-BF16 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.