text model comparison
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL are both current text models, from NVIDIA. On Arena Text, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning scores 1353 Elo and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 1412 Elo (Arena, measured October 28, 2026). Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.
- Higher Arena Text
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL1412 Elo against 1353 Elo
- Newer release
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VLOct 2026 against Aug 2026
Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03
Side by side
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL, line by line
Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL |
|---|---|---|
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena Text | 1353 Elo (#49 of 51) | 1412 Elo (#45 of 51) (better) |
| Arena WebDev | Not measured | 1399 Elo (#41 of 45) |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | NVIDIA | NVIDIA |
| Release date | August 11, 2026 | October 15, 2026 |
| Access | open weights | open weights |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | Not reported | Not reported |
| Input | text | text, image, video |
| Output | text | text |
Scores:Arena · 2026-11-03
Charts
Against every current text model
Where Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
On Arena Text, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning ranks #49 and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL #45 of 51 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning:#49of 51
1,353 Elo · ahead of 4%
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL:#45of 51
1,412 Elo · ahead of 12%
Arena WebDev
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Not scored
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL:#41of 45
1,399 Elo · ahead of 9%
Price and context
Context window
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Verdict
When to choose each
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Where it leads
No measured lead over Nemotron 3.5 Super VL in this data.
Best for
- Fast, low-cost agent subtasks such as tool calls
- Self-hosted agents on one GPU
Watch out for
- On NVIDIA's own table it trails Qwen 3.6 35B A3B on SWE-bench Verified (51.56 against 70.12)
- NVIDIA sells no per-token API for it; hosted prices come from third parties
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Where it leads
- Higher Arena Text score, 1412 Elo vs 1353 Elo
- Accepts image and video input
Best for
- Agents that read screenshots, charts and documents
- Self-hosted multimodal agents on NVIDIA hardware
Watch out for
- NVIDIA calls it 5x faster than the next best open model in its class; that speed claim is not measured independently here
- NVIDIA sells no per-token API for it, so hosted prices come from third parties
From benchmark to production
Building on Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Nemotron 3.5 Super VL?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes
FAQ
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL FAQ
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Nemotron 3.5 Super VL?
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL leads on Arena Text, 1412 Elo to 1353 Elo. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Nemotron 3.5 Super VL?
Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.
How do Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL differ in features?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning takes text input; Nemotron 3.5 Super VL takes text, image and video.
Further reading
More on Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
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Production evaluation
Choosing between Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty