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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemma 4 12B IT vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Laguna S 2.1

Gemma 4 12B IT comes out ahead, 75 to 71 and 69 on our weighted score, though Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is 30% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemma 4 12B IT

    Released Jun 9, 2026

    75/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.075 / $0.275
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 4 12B IT

  2. NVIDIA

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B

    Released Aug 11, 2026

    71/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.05 / $0.20
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B

  3. Poolside

    Laguna S 2.1

    Released Jul 21, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.10 / $0.20
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Laguna S 2.1
01 — Verdict

Gemma 4 12B IT is our pick

Gemma 4 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (71) and Laguna S 2.1 (69). It leads on inputs & features. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B wins on price. Laguna S 2.1 wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B $0.087 · Gemma 4 12B IT $0.125 · Laguna S 2.1 $0.125 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLaguna S 2.1Laguna S 2.1 1,048,576 · Gemma 4 12B IT 262,144 · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemma 4 12B ITGemma 4 12B IT: Text, Images · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · Laguna S 2.1: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemma 4 12B ITNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BLaguna S 2.1
Price50%9310093
Inputs & features30%704535
Context window20%373761
Overall100%75/10071/10069/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemma 4 12B IT vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Laguna S 2.1 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemma 4 12B ITGoogleNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIALaguna S 2.1Poolside
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.075$0.05 (best)$0.10
Output$0.275$0.20 (best)$0.20 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.125$0.087 (best)$0.125
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersMedian of 9 providersMedian of 4 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens262,144 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model ID—nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3bpoolside/laguna-s-2.1
API providers212 (best)6
ReleasedJun 9, 2026Aug 11, 2026Jul 21, 2026
Knowledge cutoff———
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemma 4 12B IT$1.30
  • Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B$0.90
  • Laguna S 2.1$1.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemma 4 12B IT, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Laguna S 2.1?

Gemma 4 12B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (71) and Laguna S 2.1 (69). It leads on inputs & features. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B wins on price. Laguna S 2.1 wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 12B IT, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Laguna S 2.1?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers; free on Nvidia). Gemma 4 12B IT costs $0.075 input / $0.275 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); Laguna S 2.1 costs $0.10 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers; free on Poolside). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.087 per million tokens for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B versus $0.125 for Gemma 4 12B IT (1.4× as much) and $0.125 for Laguna S 2.1 (1.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemma 4 12B IT has not been scored yet, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has not been scored yet and Laguna S 2.1 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 4 12B IT, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Laguna S 2.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Laguna S 2.1 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Gemma 4 12B IT and 262,144 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B. Maximum output per response: Gemma 4 12B IT up to 32,768, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, Laguna S 2.1 up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemma 4 12B IT accepts text and images; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; Laguna S 2.1 accepts text. Gemma 4 12B IT handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the newest, released Aug 11, 2026. Laguna S 2.1 came out Jul 21, 2026; Gemma 4 12B IT came out Jun 9, 2026.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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