NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Wins 1 of 7 areas
Long documents
Wins 5 of 7 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning · Images and charts · Following instructions
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is the stronger all-rounder.NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL is cheaper and better at long documents.
Scores updated · 20 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the seven 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.
- Images and chartsUnderstanding pictures, charts and video03Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct3 of 3 tests
- CodingWriting and fixing software02Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct2 of 2 tests
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking01Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct1 of 3 tests · 2 ties
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own01Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct1 of 2 tests · 1 tie
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked01Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct1 of 1 test
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL1 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.
NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL costs 20% 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 Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct pulls ahead
- Completes tasks by operating a computer desktopOSWorld-Verified+19.2points ahead
- Graduate-level biology, physics and chemistry questionsGPQA Diamond+12.3points ahead
- Harder college exam questions with imagesMMMU-Pro+9.2points ahead
Where NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL pulls ahead
- Reasons across sets of long documentsAA-LCR+13.7points ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+1.4points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 20 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- SciCodeQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 4.626.230.8+4.6
- Terminal-Bench HardQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 1.64.56.1+1.6
AgentsQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- OSWorld-VerifiedQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 19.211.130.3+19.2
- GDPValtie00tie
ReasoningQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- GPQA DiamondQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 12.357.269.5+12.3
- Humanity's Last Examtie5.56.3tie
- CritPttie00tie
FactsEven
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationNVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL by 1.47.76.3+1.4
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 114.615.6+1
Images and chartsQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- MMMU-ProQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 9.252.962.1+9.2
- CharXiv (RQ)Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 7.641.348.9+7.6
- MathVistaQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 4.675.580.1+4.6
Long documentsNVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL
- AA-LCRNVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL by 13.74127.3+13.7
Following instructionsQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- IFBenchQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 1.231.933.1+1.2
Other results6 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.
- OCRBench v2_enQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 8.454.863.2+8.4
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 2.611.714.3+2.6
- AA Agentic IndexQwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct by 2.47.19.5+2.4
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL by 2.321.319+2.3
- AA-Omnisciencetie-64.2-63.4tie
- AA Intelligencetie7.57.9tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL or Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct wins five of the seven areas where both have results: coding, agents, reasoning, images and charts and following instructions. NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL wins long documents, and costs 20% less. They are level on facts.
Which is better for coding?
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct. It wins 2 of the 2 coding tests both models report; NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL wins none.
Which is cheaper?
NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL costs $0.20 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct costs $0.20 and $0.80. That makes NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 12B v2 VL about 20% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 20 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 14 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 6 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.