Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Ministral 3 3B
Ministral 3 3B comes out ahead, 74 to 71 on our weighted score, though Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is 13% cheaper per token.
NVIDIANemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.20
- Context262K
- Our pick
Mistral AIMinistral 3 3B
74/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context262K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Ministral 3 3B is our pick
Ministral 3 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (71). It leads on inputs & features. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B wins on price. 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 · Ministral 3 3B $0.10 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 · Ministral 3 3B 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsMinistral 3 3BNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · Ministral 3 3B: Text, Images
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B | Ministral 3 3B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 100 | 97 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 71/100 | 74/100 |
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 | Ministral 3 3BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.05 (best) | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.20 | $0.10 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.087 (best) | $0.10 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 9 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | OpenApache 2.0 |
| API model ID | nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b | — |
| API providers | 12 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Aug 11, 2026 | Dec 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — |
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$0.90
- Ministral 3 3B$1.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Ministral 3 3B?
Ministral 3 3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 74/100 against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (71). It leads on inputs & features. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B wins on price. 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 Ministral 3 3B?
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). Ministral 3 3B costs $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). 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 $0.10 for Ministral 3 3B (1.1× 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 Ministral 3 3B 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 Ministral 3 3B 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 and Ministral 3 3B share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, Ministral 3 3B up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; Ministral 3 3B accepts text and images. Ministral 3 3B handles the widest range of inputs.
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. Ministral 3 3B came out Dec 2, 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 Oct 4, 2026.
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