Llama 3.2 3B Instruct vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning leads Llama 3.2 3B Instruct on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 12.9 to 5.7, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 2.3x less per output token ($0.147 vs $0.3325 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 4 benchmarks have a result for both.
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: which to pick
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a coding score, 22.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Llama 3.2 3B Instruct has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Compare them on price, context and the boards below.
- Shared results
- 4
- Llama 3.2 3B Instruct only
- 31
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning only
- 16
- Like-for-like categories
- 3 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 5.7.
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
Long documents
Listed context window
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning takes 262K tokens against 131K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct $0.0002, 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
- Llama 3.2 3B Instruct not benchmarked, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 22.6 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- General, 56.0 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Llama 3.2 3B Instruct 4.3% against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 60.3%, 56.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Llama 3.2 3B Instruct $0.3325 against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning $0.147 per million output tokens, 2.3x apart.
- Context window
- Llama 3.2 3B Instruct takes 131K 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 | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Bars | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 2 | ||
| General | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 4 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index12 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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) | 8.3% | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 32.1% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 769.2 | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1098 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1103 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 5.7 | 12.9 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 3.5 | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| 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 | 21.1% | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| BALROG | 10.1% | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | 21.9% | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 25.5% | 74.3% | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 5.3% | 10.6% | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1095 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1090 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1141 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 3.3 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 3.3% | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1126 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1128 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 54.2% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 34.7% | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1106 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1104 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1115 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1074 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | 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 | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.3% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| IFBench | 26.2% | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 4.3% | 60.3% | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| LMArena Text | 1110 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1089 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1094 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1180 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1019 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1017 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1056 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 949 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1105 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1100 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1096 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1083 | Not measured | Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 31 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | 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 | Meta Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Meta Llama | NVIDIA |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | September 25, 2024 | August 11, 2026 |
| Context window | 131K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.0505 | $0.0534 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.3325 | $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 Llama 3.2 3B Instruct better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning for coding?
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a coding score, 22.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Llama 3.2 3B Instruct has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Compare them on price, context and the boards below.
Which is cheaper, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct costs $0.0505 per million input tokens and $0.3325 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, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, with 262K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks is the Llama 3.2 3B Instruct vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning comparison based on?
4 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Llama 3.2 3B Instruct'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.