DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning leads DeepSeek V3 0324 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 12.9 to 9.7, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 7.3x less per output token ($0.147 vs $1.07 per million). Updated October 23, 2026; 8 benchmarks have a result for both.
DeepSeek V3 0324 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: which to pick
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a coding score, 22.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; DeepSeek V3 0324 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick DeepSeek V3 0324 for work measured by SciCode or CorpFin (Vals AI), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 8
- DeepSeek V3 0324 only
- 28
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning only
- 12
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning leads, 12.9 against 9.7.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning leads, 3.5 against 0.8.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only DeepSeek V3 0324 has a GPQA Diamond result, 61.6%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only DeepSeek V3 0324 has a AIME result, 52.2%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only DeepSeek V3 0324 has a MMLU Pro result, 79.5%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning takes 262K tokens against 164K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
DeepSeek V3 0324 $0.0008, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning $0.0001 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has the number, $0.06.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- DeepSeek V3 0324 not benchmarked, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 22.6 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- General, 19.7 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): DeepSeek V3 0324 40.7% against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 60.3%, 19.7 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- DeepSeek V3 0324 $1.07 against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning $0.147 per million output tokens, 7.3x apart.
- Context window
- DeepSeek V3 0324 takes 164K tokens, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 262K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Bars | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 1 | 1 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 0 | ||
| General | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 2 | 6 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index11
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 42.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| AA Coding Index | 21.2 | 26.8 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 65.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 52.8% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 3.0% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 10.9% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 29.5% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 40.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| SciCode | 39.0% | 32.1% | DeepSeek V3 0324 |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 15.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| WeirdML | 36.1% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 769.2 | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 29 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 9.7 | 12.9 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 0.8 | 3.5 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.5% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.6% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 17.0% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 47.1% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| METR time horizons | 49.6% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 61.6% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 65.5% | 74.3% | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.7% | 10.6% | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 67.6% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| SimpleBench | 27.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 52.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| MATH 500 (Vals AI) | 88.6% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 91.7% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| AA Math Index | 41.0 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 41.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 37.8% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| MATH level 5 | 75.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| MathArena | 7.1% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 79.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 77.7% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 54.7% | 54.2% | DeepSeek V3 0324 |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.1% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 82.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 81.9% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.3% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| IFBench | 41.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 40.7% | 60.3% | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| DTBench | 64.8% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| LMCA | 15.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 50.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| Creative writing (Lech Mazur) | 77.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 0324 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 41 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | DeepSeek V3 0324 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | DeepSeek | NVIDIA |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | March 24, 2025 | August 11, 2026 |
| Context window | 164K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.27 | $0.0534 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.07 | $0.147 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 22.6 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.06 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is DeepSeek V3 0324 better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning for coding?
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a coding score, 22.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; DeepSeek V3 0324 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick DeepSeek V3 0324 for work measured by SciCode or CorpFin (Vals AI), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V3 0324 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
DeepSeek V3 0324 costs $0.27 per million input tokens and $1.07 per million output tokens; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.0534 and $0.147. Cost per solved task is known for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning only.
Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V3 0324 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, with 262K tokens against 164K.
How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning comparison based on?
8 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 23, 2026. DeepSeek V3 0324's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.