GPT-5.5 (High) vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 (High) by OpenAI or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning by NVIDIA? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.5 (High) scores 24.1 points higher (37.0 vs 12.9) but costs 37× as much to run the benchmark ($3411 vs $92.8; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.5 (High) when you need intelligence above 12.9, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning when 12.9 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 (High) | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 37.0 | 12.9 | −65.1% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 65.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,410.76 | $92.76 | −97.3% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 97.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 19.79s | 9.16s | −53.7% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 53.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $30.0 | $0.06 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs GPT-5.5 (High): 65.1% less intelligence, 97.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 53.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.5 (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Xhigh) scores 34.60 for $66.8.
GPT-5.5 (High)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/gpt-5-5-high/nemotron-3-5-lightning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-high/nemotron-3-5-lightning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill