Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs o3 Mini
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning leads o3 Mini on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 12.9 to 12.5, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 29.9x less per output token ($0.147 vs $4.40 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 6 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or o3 Mini: which to pick
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a coding score, 22.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; o3 Mini has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick o3 Mini for work measured by SciCode or GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 6
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning only
- 14
- o3 Mini only
- 65
- 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
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 12.5.
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
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only o3 Mini has a GPQA Diamond result, 75.5%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only o3 Mini has a AIME result, 86.5%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only o3 Mini has a MMLU Pro result, 78.7%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning takes 262K tokens against 200K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning $0.0001, o3 Mini $0.0033 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
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 22.6 from 2 benchmarks, o3 Mini not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- General, 17.3 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 60.3% against o3 Mini 43.0%, 17.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning $0.147 against o3 Mini $4.40 per million output tokens, 29.9x apart.
- Context window
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning takes 262K tokens, o3 Mini 200K.
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 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Bars | o3 Mini | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 1 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 0 | ||
| General | 1 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 3 | 3 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index01
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | o3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aider polyglot | Not measured | 60.4% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| SWE-bench Verified | Not measured | 42.4% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| SWE-bench Lite | Not measured | 32.3% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| AA Coding Index | 26.8 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 71.5% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 52.8% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 3.0% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 10.9% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 29.5% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 73.4% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| SciCode | 32.1% | 42.8% | o3 Mini |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 6.8% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| GSO-Bench | Not measured | 1.3% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 43.7% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Cybench | Not measured | 22.5% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| ALE-Bench | 769.2 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1378 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1364 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 7.7% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | o3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 12.9 | 12.5 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 140.2 | Only o3 Mini measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | o3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 3.5 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 18.5% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 2.6% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 2.9% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 17.0% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 31.3% | Only o3 Mini 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 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | o3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 75.5% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 74.3% | 77.3% | o3 Mini |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 10.6% | 12.0% | o3 Mini |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 77.0% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 34.5% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 3.0% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| SimpleBench | Not measured | 22.8% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 15.0% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 7.0% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1365 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1364 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1375 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | o3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | Not measured | 86.5% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| MATH 500 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 91.8% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | Not measured | 91.3% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 76.9% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 18.6% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 0.0% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| MATH level 5 | Not measured | 96.5% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1396 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1399 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | o3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 78.7% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 71.5% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 54.2% | 45.3% | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 69.4% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | Not measured | 94.8% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 80.2% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 15.3% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1339 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1330 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1328 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1313 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | o3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | o3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 4.3% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 67.1% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 60.3% | 43.0% | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
| DTBench | Not measured | 68.8% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 19.0% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Fiction.LiveBench | Not measured | 50.0% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Creative writing (Lech Mazur) | Not measured | 61.7% | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1337 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1337 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1286 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1351 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1319 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1379 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1303 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1286 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1313 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1334 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1321 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1304 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1294 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1320 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1343 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1313 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1283 | Only o3 Mini measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 22 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | o3 Mini | 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 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | OpenAI o3 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | NVIDIA | OpenAI |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | August 11, 2026 | January 31, 2025 |
| Context window | 262K | 200K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.0534 | $1.10 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.147 | $4.40 |
| Coding index | 22.6 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.06 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better than o3 Mini for coding?
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a coding score, 22.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; o3 Mini has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick o3 Mini for work measured by SciCode or GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or o3 Mini?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.0534 per million input tokens and $0.147 per million output tokens; o3 Mini costs $1.10 and $4.40. Cost per solved task is known for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning only.
Which has the bigger context window, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or o3 Mini?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, with 262K tokens against 200K.
How many benchmarks is the Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs o3 Mini comparison based on?
6 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and o3 Mini's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.