NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Analysis Summary
NVIDIA's Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is a text model with tool use and function calling, priced at $0.08 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens. Its 262K-token context window provides room for substantial documents. Measured reasoning and agentic results are limited, while coding performance is below that of dedicated coding leaders.
The low cost makes it a candidate for routine, bounded text tasks and simple tool-assisted workflows where a stronger model would be unnecessary. It is less suited to complex autonomous agents, difficult code generation, or high-stakes analysis. Teams should check that it follows structured instructions and handles tool errors before routing volume through it.
Use it as a budget-tier option for constrained tasks, not as a general-purpose flagship. Its price and context capacity are useful advantages when paired with sensible validation and escalation rules.
Assessed September 23, 2026
Editorial notes
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning offers low pricing, a 262K-token context window, and tool calling, but its measured reasoning and agentic results are limited.
The DFO score ranks models on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index and is refreshed as new models launch. The write-up and verdict are our own. Feedback?
DFO Verdict
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning offers low pricing, a 262K-token context window, and tool calling, but its measured reasoning and agentic results are limited.
Benchmarks
Artificial Analysis data refreshed Oct 15, 2026. Arena ratings from the Oct 13, 2026 text leaderboard, with style control.
How NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning compares
NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning ranks #189 of 439 AI models we track for overall intelligence, #115 of 198 for coding, #124 of 181 for agentic tasks. Its 262K-token context window is larger than 75% of the models we list. At $0.07 per million input tokens it is cheaper than 70% of comparable models.
Dark bar = input · light bar = output, scaled to the priciest peer.
1M tokens ≈ 8 full-length novels or ~2,500 pages of business documents in a single request.
Pricing
| Token Type | Cost per 1M tokens | Cost per 1K tokens |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.07 | $0.000070 |
| Output | $0.20 | $0.000200 |
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Talk to our teamAbout NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is an open mixture-of-experts model from NVIDIA, with 3B active parameters out of 30B total. It is suited for high-throughput agentic workloads and specialized tasks that..
Frequently asked questions about NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
How much does NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning cost?
NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.07 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens.
What is the context window of NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a context window of 262,144 tokens (262K).
Is NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning good for coding?
On our coding benchmark index, NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning ranks #115 of 198 models, placing it in the broader range of the field for code generation and debugging.
What can NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning do?
NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning supports tool use and function calling.
Who created NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is developed by NVIDIA and was released on August 11, 2026.