Model comparison
GPT-5.5 Instant vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
GPT-5.5 Instant is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.7 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
NVIDIASummary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. GPT-5.5 Instant scores higher in 6 categories and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning in 2 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where GPT-5.5 Instant leads 61.8 to 48.5.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | NVIDIA |
| Noometry Index | 42.7 | 40.0 |
| Released | 2026-05-05 | 2026-08-11 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | — | 262K |
| Max output | — | 262K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $0.20 |
| Results tracked | 27 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 44.3 (#74), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 40.4 (#141)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1433 | 1375 |
| SciCode | 48.6% | — |
Reasoning Nemotron 3.5 Lightning leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 24.9 (#155), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 26.8 (#127)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1426 | 1337 |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 12% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 142.52 | — |
Math Nemotron 3.5 Lightning leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 26.5 (#259), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#155)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1420 | 1359 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 26.3% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 2.4% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 68.1% | — |
Knowledge GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 48.9 (#74), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#154)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1409 | 1356 |
| GPQA Diamond | 82.5% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
GPT-5.5 Instant: 40.0 (#52), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: —
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1250 | — |
| LMArena Document | 1403 | — |
Multilingual GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 52.8 (#80), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 44.0 (#180)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1417 | 1295 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1456 | 1359 |
| LMArena French | 1428 | 1366 |
| LMArena German | 1411 | 1282 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1408 | 1206 |
| LMArena Korean | 1392 | 1238 |
| LMArena Russian | 1431 | 1253 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1429 | 1345 |
Instruction Following GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 74.2 (#100), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 69.6 (#170)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1406 | 1318 |
Long Context GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 43.4 (#96), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.9 (#165)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1422 | 1314 |
Writing & Preference GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 61.8 (#85), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 48.5 (#201)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1419 | 1327 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1419 | 1254 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1433 | 1328 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 1280 |
Frequently asked questions
Is GPT-5.5 Instant better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
GPT-5.5 Instant is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.7 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index.
Is GPT-5.5 Instant or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better for coding?
GPT-5.5 Instant scores higher on coding benchmarks: 44.3 versus 40.4 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do GPT-5.5 Instant and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. GPT-5.5 Instant has 27 scored results on Noometry and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has 18.