DeepSeek-V3 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Wins 0 of 6 areas
—
Wins 5 of 6 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning · Long documents · Following instructions
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is the stronger all-rounder.
Scores updated · 25 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the six areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own02Nemotron 3.5 Lightning2 of 3 tests · 1 tie
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking02Nemotron 3.5 Lightning2 of 3 tests · 1 tie
- CodingWriting and fixing software12Nemotron 3.5 Lightning2 of 3 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts01Nemotron 3.5 Lightning1 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked01Nemotron 3.5 Lightning1 of 1 test
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up11Even1 each
Long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 77% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Nemotron 3.5 Lightning pulls ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+48.3points ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+30.9points ahead
- Reasons across sets of long documentsAA-LCR+19.6points ahead
Where DeepSeek-V3 pulls ahead
- Answers hard knowledge questions correctlyAA-Omniscience · Accuracy+11.1points ahead
- Code for real scientific research problemsSciCode+6.9points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 25 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingNemotron 3.5 Lightning
- SWE-bench VerifiedNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 9.64251.6+9.6
- Terminal-Bench 2.1Nemotron 3.5 Lightning by 7.416.924.3+7.4
- SciCodeDeepSeek-V3 by 6.93932.1+6.9
AgentsNemotron 3.5 Lightning
- GDPValNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 707+7
- τ-Bench V3 · BankingNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 4.24.78.9+4.2
- Terminal-Bench 4.0tie00.5tie
ReasoningNemotron 3.5 Lightning
- GPQA DiamondNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 8.865.574.3+8.8
- Humanity's Last ExamNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 5.94.710.6+5.9
- CritPttie00tie
FactsEven
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 48.314.162.4+48.3
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyDeepSeek-V3 by 11.125.414.4+11.1
Long documentsNemotron 3.5 Lightning
- AA-LCRNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 19.640.760.3+19.6
Following instructionsNemotron 3.5 Lightning
- IFBenchNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 30.94171.9+30.9
Other results12 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- OpenBookQADeepSeek-V3 by 47.895.447.6+47.8
- AA-OmniscienceNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 23-40.7-17.7+23
- HumanEvalNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 12.265.277.4+12.2
- MMLUDeepSeek-V3 by 9.988.578.6+9.9
- MMLU-ProNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 675.981.9+6
- WinoGrandeDeepSeek-V3 by 4.984.980+4.9
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 3.82326.8+3.8
- HellaSwagDeepSeek-V3 by 3.388.985.5+3.3
- AA IntelligenceNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 3.29.712.9+3.2
- MBPPNemotron 3.5 Lightning by 3.275.478.6+3.2
- ARC-ChallengeDeepSeek-V3 by 2.695.392.7+2.6
- PIQA (Acc.)DeepSeek-V3 by 1.384.783.3+1.3
Questions people ask
Which is better, DeepSeek-V3 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning wins five of the six areas where both have results: coding, agents, reasoning, long documents and following instructions. DeepSeek-V3 wins none. They are level on facts.
Which is better for coding?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning. It wins 2 of the 3 coding tests both models report; DeepSeek-V3 wins 1.
Which is cheaper?
DeepSeek-V3 costs $0.24 per million input tokens and $0.90 per million output tokens; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.06 and $0.20. That makes Nemotron 3.5 Lightning about 77% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 25 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 13 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 12 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.