Model comparison
Grok 4.3 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Grok 4.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.6 to 39.3 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 18× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
NVIDIASummary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Grok 4.3 scores higher in 8 categories and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Grok 4.3 leads 52.5 to 36.9.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.16 per million input/output tokens, against $1.25 / $2.50 for Grok 4.3.
- Grok 4.3 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 262K.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | NVIDIA |
| Noometry Index | 43.6 | 39.3 |
| Released | 2026-04-17 | 2026-08-11 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Max output | 30K | 262K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $1.25 | $0.06 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.50 | $0.16 |
| Results tracked | 40 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 41.3 (#117), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.6 (#143)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1415 | 1370 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1357 | — |
| SciCode | 47.3% | — |
| WeirdML | 49.9% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 944.17 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Grok 4.3: 27.6 (#93), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| GDP.pdf | 8% | — |
| LMArena Search | 1165 | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 35.26 | — |
Reasoning Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 34.9 (#60), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 25.7 (#128)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1397 | 1335 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 55.2% | — |
| CritPt | 8% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 25% | — |
| DTBench | 90.7% | — |
| LMCA | 38.3% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 149.13 | — |
| ForecastBench | 60.3 | — |
Math Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 45.8 (#60), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 34.7 (#156)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1388 | 1355 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 42.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 14.6% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 93.3% | — |
| ProofBench | 11% | — |
Knowledge Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 52.5 (#57), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 36.9 (#154)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1385 | 1354 |
| GPQA Diamond | 88.8% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 33.2% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Grok 4.3: 31.6 (#96), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1231 | — |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | 0% | — |
Multilingual Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 50.7 (#114), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 44.0 (#175)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1385 | 1292 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1423 | 1356 |
| LMArena French | 1412 | 1369 |
| LMArena German | 1395 | 1280 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1379 | 1213 |
| LMArena Korean | 1357 | 1233 |
| LMArena Russian | 1399 | 1257 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1402 | 1321 |
Instruction Following Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 72.3 (#135), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 69.8 (#166)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1366 | 1317 |
Long Context Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 42.5 (#118), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.9 (#160)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1393 | 1312 |
Writing & Preference Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 58.6 (#112), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 48.5 (#198)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1397 | 1324 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1380 | 1254 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1406 | 1327 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 1280 |
| EQ-Bench 4 | 1075 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Grok 4.3 better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Grok 4.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.6 to 39.3 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 18× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.3 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.16 per million output tokens; Grok 4.3 lists at $1.25 and $2.50.
Is Grok 4.3 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better for coding?
Grok 4.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.3 versus 39.6 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Grok 4.3 does, with 1M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks do Grok 4.3 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Grok 4.3 has 40 scored results on Noometry and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has 18.