North Small Translate vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Laguna M.1
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B comes out ahead, 71 to 68 and 50 on our weighted score.
CohereNorth Small Translate
50/100- ECI—
- PriceFree / Free
- Context16K
- Our pick
NVIDIANemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.20
- Context262K
PoolsideLaguna M.1
68/100- ECI—
- PriceFree / Free
- 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 Laguna M.1 (68) and North Small Translate (50). It leads 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 priceNorth Small Translate and Laguna M.1North Small Translate Free · Laguna M.1 Free · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B $0.087 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Laguna M.1Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 · Laguna M.1 262,144 · North Small Translate 16,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsNorth Small Translate: Text · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · Laguna M.1: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | North Small Translate | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B | Laguna M.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 0 | 45 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 71/100 | 68/100 |
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 | North Small TranslateCohere | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIA | Laguna M.1Poolside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | Free (best) | $0.05 | Free (best) |
| Output | Free (best) | $0.20 | Free (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | Free (best) | $0.087 | Free (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Cohere API | Median of 9 providers | Official Poolside API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 16,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 16,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | No | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenCC-BY-NC-4.0 | Open | Open |
| API model ID | north-small-translate-09-2026 | nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b | poolside/laguna-m.1 |
| API providers | 1 | 12 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Sep 9, 2026 | Aug 11, 2026 | Apr 28, 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.
- North Small TranslateFree
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B$0.90
- Laguna M.1Free
Which should you choose?
Which is better: North Small Translate, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Laguna M.1?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Laguna M.1 (68) and North Small Translate (50). It leads 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, North Small Translate, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Laguna M.1?
North Small Translate is cheaper at Free input / Free output per million tokens (official Cohere API price). Laguna M.1 costs Free input / Free output per million tokens (official Poolside API price); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B costs $0.05 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers; free on Nvidia). North Small Translate is listed as free.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. North Small Translate has not been scored yet, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has not been scored yet and Laguna M.1 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for North Small Translate, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Laguna M.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that North Small Translate does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Laguna M.1 have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 16,000 for North Small Translate. Maximum output per response: North Small Translate up to 16,000, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, Laguna M.1 up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
North Small Translate accepts text; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; Laguna M.1 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights (CC-BY-NC-4.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
North Small Translate is the newest, released Sep 9, 2026. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B came out Aug 11, 2026; Laguna M.1 came out Apr 28, 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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