Noometry

Model comparison

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 1.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.5 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning NVIDIA

40.0

Rank #155 Confirmed

Step 3.5 Flash StepFun

42.3

Rank #116 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning scores higher in 1 category and Step 3.5 Flash in 7 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 58.8 to 48.5.
  • Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.10 / $0.30 for Step 3.5 Flash.
  • Nemotron 3.5 Lightning accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 256K.

Side by side

Nemotron 3.5 LightningStep 3.5 Flash
ProviderNVIDIAStepFun
Noometry Index40.042.3
Released2026-08-112026-01-29
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window262K256K
Max output262K256K
Input $ / M tokens$0.05$0.10
Output $ / M tokens$0.20$0.30
Results tracked1819

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Category by category

Coding Step 3.5 Flash leads

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 40.4 (#141), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)

BenchmarkNemotron 3.5 LightningStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Coding13751436

Reasoning Nemotron 3.5 Lightning leads

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 26.8 (#127), Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)

BenchmarkNemotron 3.5 LightningStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Hard Prompts13371411
NYT Connections (extended)—28.4%

Math Step 3.5 Flash leads

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#155), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)

BenchmarkNemotron 3.5 LightningStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Math13591408
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions—66.8%

Knowledge Step 3.5 Flash leads

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#154), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)

BenchmarkNemotron 3.5 LightningStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Expert13561421

Multilingual Step 3.5 Flash leads

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 44.0 (#180), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)

BenchmarkNemotron 3.5 LightningStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Non-English12951385
LMArena Chinese13591447
LMArena French13661421
LMArena German12821405
LMArena Japanese12061354
LMArena Korean12381352
LMArena Russian12531385
LMArena Spanish13451419

Instruction Following Step 3.5 Flash leads

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 69.6 (#170), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)

BenchmarkNemotron 3.5 LightningStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Instruction Following13181385

Long Context Step 3.5 Flash leads

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.9 (#165), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)

BenchmarkNemotron 3.5 LightningStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Longer Query13141402

Writing & Preference Step 3.5 Flash leads

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 48.5 (#201), Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)

BenchmarkNemotron 3.5 LightningStep 3.5 Flash
LMArena Text13271403
LMArena Creative Writing12541357
LMArena Multi-Turn13281405
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1280—

Frequently asked questions

Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 1.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.5 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Step 3.5 Flash?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; Step 3.5 Flash lists at $0.10 and $0.30.

Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 40.4 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning does, with 262K tokens against 256K.

How many benchmarks do Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Step 3.5 Flash share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has 18 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.

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