Qwen3.5 Flash vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
Qwen3.5 Flash comes out ahead, 79 to 71 on our weighted score, though Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is 2× cheaper per token.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 Flash
79/100- ECI144.0
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1M
NVIDIANemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.20
- Context262K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Qwen3.5 Flash is our pick
Qwen3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (71). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B wins on price. 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 · Qwen3.5 Flash $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.5 FlashQwen3.5 Flash 1,000,000 · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.5 FlashQwen3.5 Flash: Text, Images, Video · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text
- Self-hostingNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.5 Flash | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 86 | 100 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 45 |
| Context window | 20% | 60 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 79/100 | 71/100 |
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 FlashAlibaba (Qwen) | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIA |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 144.0 | — |
| ECI rank | #82 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 82.3% | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 18.3% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 84.4% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 20.3% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.10 | $0.05 (best) |
| Output | $0.40 | $0.20 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.01 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 | $0.087 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Median of 9 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | qwen3.5-flash | nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b |
| API providers | 8 | 12 (best) |
| Released | Feb 23, 2026 | Aug 11, 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 Flash$1.80
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B$0.90
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.5 Flash or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?
Qwen3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (71). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B wins on price. 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 Flash or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B?
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). Qwen3.5 Flash costs $0.10 input / $0.40 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 $0.175 for Qwen3.5 Flash (2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3.5 Flash has an ECI of 144.0 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 Flash and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 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?
Qwen3.5 Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 Flash up to 65,536, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.5 Flash accepts text, images and video; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text. Qwen3.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.5 Flash is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the newest, released Aug 11, 2026. Qwen3.5 Flash came out Feb 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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