Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B vs Qwen3.6 27B
Qwen3.6 27B leads Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 21.4 to 8.9, and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B costs 12.3x less per output token ($0.22 vs $2.70 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 10 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B or Qwen3.6 27B: which to pick
Only Qwen3.6 27B has a coding score, 36.8 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B for output tokens 12.3x cheaper ($0.22 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by IFBench, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 10
- Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B only
- 32
- Qwen3.6 27B only
- 15
- 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 Qwen3.6 27B has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Qwen3.6 27B
Qwen3.6 27B leads, 21.4 against 8.9.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Qwen3.6 27B
Qwen3.6 27B leads, 18.5 against 1.0.
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 Nano 30B A3B
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B $0.0002, Qwen3.6 27B $0.0018 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Qwen3.6 27B has the number, $1.30.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B not benchmarked, Qwen3.6 27B 36.8 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 35.4 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- τ²-Bench Telecom: Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B 40.9% against Qwen3.6 27B 94.2%, 53.2 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B $0.22 against Qwen3.6 27B $2.70 per million output tokens, 12.3x 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 Nano 30B A3B | Bars | Qwen3.6 27B | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 3 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 2 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 2 | ||
| General | 1 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 1 | 9 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index03
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Coding Index | 14.4 | 53.7 | Qwen3.6 27B |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 70.0% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 11.9% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 74.1% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| SciCode | 30.6% | 42.8% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.6% | 34.8% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1378 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1383 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 8.9 | 21.4 | Qwen3.6 27B |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 146.2 | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 1.0 | 18.5 | Qwen3.6 27B |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 40.9% | 94.2% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 75.7% | 84.2% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 11.4% | 23.1% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 85.9% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 7.0% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1348 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1355 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1376 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 91.0 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 91.0% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 91.1% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 35.1% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1371 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1375 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 53.2% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 62.3% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 71.3% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.3% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 79.4% | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1353 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1349 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1341 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1346 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 45.6% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| IFBench | 71.1% | 67.6% | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 38.0% | 77.3% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| DTBench | Not measured | 78.1% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 34.5% | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| LMArena Text | 1348 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1303 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1269 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1377 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1320 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1383 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1348 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1268 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1269 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1396 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1376 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1304 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1303 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1319 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1300 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1283 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1293 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B measured |
| EQ-Bench 4 | Not measured | 1026 | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 25 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B | 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 Nano 30B A3B costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B 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 Nano 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | NVIDIA | Qwen |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | December 14, 2025 | April 27, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.055 | $0.45 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.22 | $2.70 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 36.8 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $1.30 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B better than Qwen3.6 27B for coding?
Only Qwen3.6 27B has a coding score, 36.8 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B for output tokens 12.3x cheaper ($0.22 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by IFBench, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B or Qwen3.6 27B?
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B costs $0.055 per million input tokens and $0.22 per million output tokens; Qwen3.6 27B costs $0.45 and $2.70. Cost per solved task is known for Qwen3.6 27B only.
Which has the bigger context window, Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B or Qwen3.6 27B?
Neither: both take 262K tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B vs Qwen3.6 27B comparison based on?
10 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Qwen3.6 27B's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.