Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Apertus 8B
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B comes out ahead, 68 to 54 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
NVIDIANemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
68/100- ECI—
- Price$0.055 / $0.20
- Context262K
Swiss AI
Apertus 8B
54/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.20
- Context66K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is our pick
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Apertus 8B (54). It leads on price, inputs & features and 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 $0.091 · Apertus 8B $0.125 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 · Apertus 8B 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · Apertus 8B: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B | Apertus 8B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 95 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 12 |
| Overall | 100% | 68/100 | 54/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIA | Apertus 8BSwiss AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.055 (best) | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.091 (best) | $0.125 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 10 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b | — |
| API providers | 15 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Aug 11, 2026 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2025 | Sep 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B$0.95
- Apertus 8B$1.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Apertus 8B?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Apertus 8B (54). It leads on price, inputs & features and 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, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Apertus 8B?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.055 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 10 API providers; free on Nvidia). Apertus 8B costs $0.10 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.091 per million tokens for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B versus $0.125 for Apertus 8B (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has not been scored yet and Apertus 8B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Apertus 8B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 65,536 for Apertus 8B. Maximum output per response: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, Apertus 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; Apertus 8B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the newest, released Aug 11, 2026. Apertus 8B came out Sep 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B Sep 2025, Apertus 8B Sep 2025.
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 Nov 2, 2026.
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