DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads Nemotron 3.5 Lightning on coding, 70.3 to 22.6 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 4.1x less per output token ($0.147 vs $0.60 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 11 benchmarks have a result for both.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: which to pick
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 for coding: it scores 70.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 22.6 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning.
Pick Nemotron 3.5 Lightning for output tokens 4.1x cheaper ($0.147 vs $0.60 per million).
- Shared results
- 11
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 only
- 28
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning only
- 9
- Like-for-like categories
- 5 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
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 scores 70.3 against 22.6.
4 and 2 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads, 39.5 against 12.9.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a AA Agentic Index result, 3.5.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1311.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 has a Vals Index result, 61.3%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 takes 1.05M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 $0.0004, 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 V4.1 Flash 1017 70.3 from 4 benchmarks, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 22.6 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 45.3 points apart on average over 4 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 87.7% against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 0.0%, 87.7 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 $0.60 against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning $0.147 per million output tokens, 4.1x apart.
- Context window
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 takes 1.05M 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 V4.1 Flash 1017 | Bars | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 4 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 4 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 0 | ||
| General | 1 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 11 | 0 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index40
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 96.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1664 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 26.8 | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 52.8% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 31.8% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 87.7% | 0.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 44.2% | 3.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| 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 |
| SciCode | 55.9% | 32.1% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| ALE-Bench | 1622.0 | 769.2 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1667 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1687 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 25 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 39.5 | 12.9 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 3.5 | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | 1245 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LiveBench research | 79.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LiveBench browser | 76.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | 50.9% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 57.0% | 18.5% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 44.4% | 2.6% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 45.2% | 2.9% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 14.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 61.8% | 17.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 31 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench reasoning | 89.1% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 74.3% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 43.3% | 10.6% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 93.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Chess puzzles | 46.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 49.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 99.4% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 71.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 46.3% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 54.2% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 42.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1311 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1303 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1357 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1330 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1358 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1332 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1242 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LiveBench design | 83.4% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 61.3% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LiveBench data analysis | 79.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.3% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 82.7% | 60.3% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 42 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | 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 V4.1 Flash 1017 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | DeepSeek | NVIDIA |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | October 17, 2026 | August 11, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.15 | $0.0534 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.60 | $0.147 |
| Coding index | 70.3 | 22.6 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 4 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.06 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning for coding?
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 for coding: it scores 70.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 22.6 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning. Pick Nemotron 3.5 Lightning for output tokens 4.1x cheaper ($0.147 vs $0.60 per million).
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 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 V4.1 Flash 1017 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning comparison based on?
11 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017's coding index rests on 4 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.