# Llama 3.2 1B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

> Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.0 to 20.1 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/llama-3-2-1b-vs-nemotron-3-5-lightning
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 14

## Summary

- They share 14 benchmarks with published results for both. Llama 3.2 1B scores higher in 0 categories and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Nemotron 3.5 Lightning leads 37.5 to 7.2.
- Llama 3.2 1B is cheaper at $0.027 / $0.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.05 / $0.20 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 60K.

## Snapshot

| | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | NVIDIA |
| Noometry Index | 20.1 | 40.0 |
| Rank | 354 | 155 |
| Context | 60K | 262K |
| Input $/M | $0.027 | $0.05 |
| Output $/M | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Llama 3.2 1B: 21.1 (#338)
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 40.4 (#141)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1070 | 1375 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 8.2% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 11.3% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Llama 3.2 1B: 14.6 (#150)
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: —

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 10.8% | — |
| BALROG | 6.6% | — |

## Reasoning

- Llama 3.2 1B: 16.2 (#308)
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 26.8 (#127)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1044 | 1337 |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 101.99 | — |

## Math

- Llama 3.2 1B: 10.4 (#313)
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#155)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1086 | 1359 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 0.6% | — |

## Knowledge

- Llama 3.2 1B: 7.2 (#312)
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#154)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1007 | 1356 |
| GPQA Diamond | 23.9% | — |

## Multilingual

- Llama 3.2 1B: 23.8 (#292)
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 44.0 (#180)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 973 | 1295 |
| LMArena Chinese | 959 | 1359 |
| LMArena German | 1014 | 1282 |
| LMArena Russian | 941 | 1253 |
| LMArena French | — | 1366 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1206 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1238 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1345 |

## Instruction Following

- Llama 3.2 1B: 52.4 (#290)
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 69.6 (#170)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1031 | 1318 |

## Long Context

- Llama 3.2 1B: 31.9 (#274)
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.9 (#165)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1050 | 1314 |

## Writing & Preference

- Llama 3.2 1B: 21.3 (#310)
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 48.5 (#201)

| Benchmark | Llama 3.2 1B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1055 | 1327 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1033 | 1254 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 200 | 1280 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1030 | 1328 |

## FAQ

### Is Llama 3.2 1B better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.0 to 20.1 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Llama 3.2 1B or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Llama 3.2 1B is cheaper. It lists at $0.027 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning lists at $0.05 and $0.20.

### Is Llama 3.2 1B or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better for coding?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.4 versus 21.1 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning does, with 262K tokens against 60K.

### How many benchmarks do Llama 3.2 1B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning share?

14 benchmarks have published results for both models. Llama 3.2 1B has 22 scored results on Noometry and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has 18.