DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) by DeepSeek or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning by NVIDIA? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) scores 11.8 points higher (24.7 vs 12.9) but costs 2.6× as much to run the benchmark ($239 vs $92.8; both mid-range class). Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Nemotron 3.5 Lightning.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.7 | 12.9 | −47.8% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 47.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $238.91 | $92.76 | −61.2% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 61.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 2.88s | 8.72s | +202.8% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 202.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.06 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning): 47.8% less intelligence, 61.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 202.8% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Xhigh) scores 34.60 for $66.8.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning)Nemotron 3.5 LightningToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning/nemotron-3-5-lightning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning/nemotron-3-5-lightning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill