Model comparison

GLM-5 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

GLM-5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 46.1 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 18× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 18 shared benchmarks.

GLM-5 Z.ai (Zhipu)

46.1

Rank #66 Confirmed

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning NVIDIA

40.0

Rank #155 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5 scores higher in 8 categories and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in writing & preference, where GLM-5 leads 66.0 to 48.5.
  • Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.20 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $3.20 for GLM-5.
  • Nemotron 3.5 Lightning accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 205K.

Side by side

GLM-5 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning specifications
GLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
ProviderZ.ai (Zhipu)NVIDIA
Noometry Index46.140.0
Released2026-02-112026-08-11
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window205K262K
Max output131K262K
Input $ / M tokens$1$0.05
Output $ / M tokens$3.20$0.20
Results tracked4518

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Category by category

Coding GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 49.0 (#52), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 40.4 (#141)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
LMArena Coding14611375
SWE-bench Verified72.1%—
SWE-bench Verified (bash only)72.8%—
LMArena WebDev1434—
SWE-bench Multilingual69.7%—
WeirdML48.2%—
ALE-Bench765.62—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

GLM-5: 31.1 (#71), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Terminal-Bench52.4%—
τ²-bench Airline82.5%—
τ²-bench Banking9.8%—
τ²-bench Retail73.7%—
τ²-bench Telecom86.8%—
Vending-Bench 24,432—

Reasoning Too close to call

GLM-5: 27.6 (#116), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 26.8 (#127)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
LMArena Hard Prompts14521337
ARC-AGI-24.9%—
SimpleBench53.2%—
Kagi LLM Benchmark75%—
NYT Connections (extended)74.8%—
ARC-AGI-144.7%—
Chess Puzzles10%—
Epoch Capabilities Index145.83—
ForecastBench61—

Math GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 46.4 (#71), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#155)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
LMArena Math14401359
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions65.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202580%—
FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set)16.4%—
FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1)2.1%—

Knowledge GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 52.3 (#64), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#154)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
LMArena Expert14541356
GPQA Diamond87.8%—
Vectara Hallucination Rate10.1%—

Multilingual GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 53.7 (#58), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 44.0 (#180)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
LMArena Non-English14301295
LMArena Chinese15111359
LMArena French14551366
LMArena German14451282
LMArena Japanese14161206
LMArena Korean14231238
LMArena Russian14361253
LMArena Spanish14541345

Instruction Following GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 75.2 (#67), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 69.6 (#170)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
LMArena Instruction Following14281318

Long Context GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 44.7 (#60), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.9 (#165)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
LMArena Longer Query14461314
CL-bench18.7%—

Writing & Preference GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 66.0 (#38), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 48.5 (#201)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
LMArena Text14461327
LMArena Creative Writing14391254
EQ-Bench Creative Writing16011280
LMArena Multi-Turn14561328

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM-5 better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

GLM-5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 46.1 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 18× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; GLM-5 lists at $1 and $3.20.

Is GLM-5 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better for coding?

GLM-5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 49.0 versus 40.4 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning does, with 262K tokens against 205K.

How many benchmarks do GLM-5 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning share?

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5 has 45 scored results on Noometry and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has 18.

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