Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Hy3 preview
Hy3 preview leads Nemotron 3.5 Lightning on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 25.3 to 12.9, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 4.1x less per output token ($0.147 vs $0.60 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 6 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Hy3 preview: which to pick
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a coding score, 22.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Hy3 preview has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Hy3 preview for work measured by AA Coding Index or AA Intelligence Index, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 6
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning only
- 14
- Hy3 preview only
- 30
- 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
Hy3 preview
Hy3 preview leads, 25.3 against 12.9.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Hy3 preview
Hy3 preview leads, 24.1 against 3.5.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 262K tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning $0.0001, Hy3 preview $0.0005 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, Hy3 preview not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Coding, 32.0 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- AA Coding Index: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 26.8 against Hy3 preview 58.8, 32.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning $0.147 against Hy3 preview $0.60 per million output tokens, 4.1x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 262K tokens.
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 | Hy3 preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 1 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 2 | ||
| General | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 6 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index01
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1357 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| AA Coding Index | 26.8 | 58.8 | Hy3 preview |
| 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 |
| SciCode | 32.1% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 34.1% | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| ALE-Bench | 769.2 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1421 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1423 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1349 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1356 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 12.9 | 25.3 | Hy3 preview |
| 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 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 3.5 | 24.1 | Hy3 preview |
| 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 | 92.7% | Only Hy3 preview 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 | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 74.3% | 86.7% | Hy3 preview |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 10.6% | 27.8% | Hy3 preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1413 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1422 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1416 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1424 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1442 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 54.2% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1416 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1405 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1430 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1397 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Hy3 preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 4.3% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 63.1% | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 60.3% | 64.7% | Hy3 preview |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1401 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1383 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1339 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1409 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1390 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1435 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1425 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1399 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1399 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1411 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1402 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1370 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1352 | Only Hy3 preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 30 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Hy3 preview | 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 | Tencent Hy3 preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | NVIDIA | Tencent |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | August 11, 2026 | April 22, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.0534 | $0.18 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.147 | $0.60 |
| Coding index | 22.6 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.06 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better than Hy3 preview for coding?
Only Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has a coding score, 22.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Hy3 preview has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Hy3 preview for work measured by AA Coding Index or AA Intelligence Index, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Hy3 preview?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.0534 per million input tokens and $0.147 per million output tokens; Hy3 preview costs $0.18 and $0.60. Cost per solved task is known for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning only.
Which has the bigger context window, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Hy3 preview?
Neither: both take 262K tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Hy3 preview comparison based on?
6 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Hy3 preview's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.