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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Motif 3

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B comes out ahead, 71 to 44 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    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

  2. Motif Technologies

    Motif 3

    Released Aug 7, 2026

    44/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $2.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Motif 3

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is our pick

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Motif 3 (44). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 · Motif 3 $0.875 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 · Motif 3 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · Motif 3: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BMotif 3
Price50%10053
Inputs & features30%4535
Context window20%3737
Overall100%71/10044/100

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.

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Motif 3 specifications side by side
SpecificationNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIAMotif 3Motif Technologies
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$0.50
Output$0.20 (best)$2.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.087 (best)$0.875
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenMIT
API model IDnvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b—
API providers12 (best)1
ReleasedAug 11, 2026Aug 7, 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.

  • Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B$0.90
  • Motif 3$9.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Motif 3?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Motif 3 (44). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 Motif 3?

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). Motif 3 costs $0.50 input / $2.00 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 $0.875 for Motif 3 (10× 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 Motif 3 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 Motif 3 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 Motif 3 share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, Motif 3 up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; Motif 3 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (MIT), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the newest, released Aug 11, 2026. Motif 3 came out Aug 7, 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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