Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Qwen3.6 27B
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B comes out ahead, 71 to 56 and 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
NVIDIANemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B
50/100- ECI146.2
- Price$0.50 / $2.50
- Context1M
- Our pickNVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.20
- Context262K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 27B
56/100- ECI146.5
- Price$0.60 / $3.60
- Context262K
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) and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (50). It leads on price. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B wins on context window. 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 · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B $1.00 · Qwen3.6 27B $1.35 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55BNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 1,000,000 · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 · Qwen3.6 27B 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.6 27BNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B: Text · Nemotron 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
| Measure | Weight | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 50 | 100 | 44 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 45 | 90 |
| Context window | 20% | 60 | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 71/100 | 56/100 |
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 Ultra 550B A55BNVIDIA | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIA | Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 146.2 | — | 146.5 (best) |
| ECI rank | #70 of 148 | — | #68 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 85.4% | — | 85.9% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | — | 35.1% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 86.7% | — | 91.1% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 | $0.05 (best) | $0.60 |
| Output | $2.50 | $0.20 (best) | $3.60 |
| Cached input | $0.15 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.00 | $0.087 (best) | $1.35 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Nvidia API | Median of 9 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b | nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b | qwen3.6-27b |
| API providers | 21 | 12 | 27 (best) |
| Released | Jun 4, 2026 | Aug 11, 2026 | Apr 22, 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 Ultra 550B A55B$10.00
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B$0.90
- Qwen3.6 27B$13.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B, 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) and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (50). It leads on price. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B wins on context window. 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 Ultra 550B A55B, 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). Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B costs $0.50 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Nvidia API price); 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 $1.00 for Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (11× as much) and $1.35 for Qwen3.6 27B (15× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B has an ECI of 146.2, 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 Ultra 550B A55B, 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. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and 262,144 for Qwen3.6 27B. Maximum output per response: Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B up to 128,000, 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 Ultra 550B A55B accepts text; 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, all three 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. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B came out Jun 4, 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.
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