Qwen3.5 9B Base vs Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning
Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning comes out ahead, 67 to 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 9B Base
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $0.807
- Context262K
- Our pick
NVIDIANemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning
67/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.85
- Context256K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning is our pick
Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Qwen3.5 9B Base (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 priceNemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B ReasoningNemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning $0.40 · Qwen3.5 9B Base $0.427 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.5 9B BaseQwen3.5 9B Base 262,144 · Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B ReasoningQwen3.5 9B Base: Text, Images, Video · Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning: Text, Images, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.5 9B Base | Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 65 | 66 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 90 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 67/100 |
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 | Qwen3.5 9B BaseAlibaba (Qwen) | Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B ReasoningNVIDIA |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.30 | $0.25 (best) |
| Output | $0.807 (best) | $0.85 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.427 | $0.40 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Median of 4 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | No | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Open |
| API model ID | — | nvidia/nemotron-3-nano-omni-30b-a3b-reasoning |
| API providers | 1 | 9 (best) |
| Released | Feb 26, 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.
- Qwen3.5 9B Base$4.61
- Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning$4.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.5 9B Base or Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning?
Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against Qwen3.5 9B Base (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, Qwen3.5 9B Base or Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning?
Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.85 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers; free on Nvidia). Qwen3.5 9B Base costs $0.30 input / $0.807 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.40 per million tokens for Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning versus $0.427 for Qwen3.5 9B Base (1.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3.5 9B Base has not been scored yet and Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 9B Base and Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Qwen3.5 9B Base does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.5 9B Base has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 9B Base up to 65,536, Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.5 9B Base accepts text, images and video; Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning accepts text, images, audio and video. Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Nemotron 3 Nano Omni 30B A3B Reasoning is the newest, released Apr 28, 2026. Qwen3.5 9B Base came out Feb 26, 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 Nov 2, 2026.
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