Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Ornith 1.0 35B vs Seed 2.1 Pro
Seed 2.1 Pro comes out ahead, 62 to 51 and 42 on our weighted score, though Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is 20× cheaper per token.
NVIDIANemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
42/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.20
- Context262K
DeepReinforce
Ornith 1.0 35B
51/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context262K
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 2.1 Pro
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.891 / $4.45
- Context256K
Seed 2.1 Pro is our pick
Seed 2.1 Pro is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Ornith 1.0 35B (51) and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (42). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 · Seed 2.1 Pro $1.78 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Ornith 1.0 35B unpriced
- Longest contextNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Ornith 1.0 35BNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 · Ornith 1.0 35B 262,144 · Seed 2.1 Pro 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 2.1 ProNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · Ornith 1.0 35B: Text, Images · Seed 2.1 Pro: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Ornith 1.0 35BPublishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B | Ornith 1.0 35B | Seed 2.1 Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 45 | 60 | 80 |
| Context window | 40% | 37 | 37 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 42/100 | 51/100 | 62/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. 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 | Ornith 1.0 35BDeepReinforce | Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.05 (best) | — | $0.891 |
| Output | $0.20 (best) | — | $4.45 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.178 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.087 (best) | — | $1.78 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | — | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 9 providers | — | Official Volcengine Ark API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | — | 256,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | OpenMIT | Proprietary |
| API model ID | nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b | — | doubao-seed-2-1-pro-260628 |
| API providers | 12 (best) | 1 | 2 |
| Released | Aug 11, 2026 | Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 23, 2026 |
| 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
- Ornith 1.0 35B—
- Seed 2.1 Pro$17.81
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B, Ornith 1.0 35B or Seed 2.1 Pro?
Seed 2.1 Pro is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Ornith 1.0 35B (51) and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (42). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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, Ornith 1.0 35B or Seed 2.1 Pro?
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). Seed 2.1 Pro costs $0.891 input / $4.45 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). 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 $1.78 for Seed 2.1 Pro (20× as much). Ornith 1.0 35B has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has not been scored yet, Ornith 1.0 35B has not been scored yet and Seed 2.1 Pro 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, Ornith 1.0 35B and Seed 2.1 Pro 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?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Ornith 1.0 35B have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 256,000 for Seed 2.1 Pro. Maximum output per response: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, Seed 2.1 Pro up to 256,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; Ornith 1.0 35B accepts text and images; Seed 2.1 Pro accepts text, images and video. Seed 2.1 Pro handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Ornith 1.0 35B publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Seed 2.1 Pro is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the newest, released Aug 11, 2026. Ornith 1.0 35B came out Jun 25, 2026; Seed 2.1 Pro came out Jun 23, 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.
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