ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Qwen3.6 27B

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B comes out ahead, 71 to 56 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. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 27B

    Released Apr 22, 2026

    56/100
    • ECI146.5
    • Price$0.60 / $3.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 27B

  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 Qwen3.6 27B (56). It leads on price. Qwen3.6 27B wins on 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 · Qwen3.6 27B $1.35 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 · Qwen3.6 27B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.6 27BNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · Qwen3.6 27B: Text, Images, Audio, Video
  • 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 A3BQwen3.6 27B
Price50%10044
Inputs & features30%4590
Context window20%3737
Overall100%71/10056/100

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 Qwen3.6 27B specifications side by side
SpecificationNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIAQwen3.6 27BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—146.5
ECI rank—#68 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—85.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—35.1%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—91.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$0.60
Output$0.20 (best)$3.60
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.087 (best)$1.35
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 9 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output262,144 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoYes
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDnvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3bqwen3.6-27b
API providers1227 (best)
ReleasedAug 11, 2026Apr 22, 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
  • Qwen3.6 27B$13.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Qwen3.6 27B?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Qwen3.6 27B (56). It leads on price. Qwen3.6 27B wins on 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 Qwen3.6 27B?

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). Qwen3.6 27B costs $0.60 input / $3.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $1.35 for Qwen3.6 27B (15× 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 Qwen3.6 27B has an ECI of 146.5.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Qwen3.6 27B 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 Qwen3.6 27B share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, Qwen3.6 27B up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; Qwen3.6 27B accepts text, images, audio and video. Qwen3.6 27B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both 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. Qwen3.6 27B came out Apr 22, 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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