GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning by NVIDIA? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning)
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning): 16.8% less intelligence, 303.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 75.1% slower end-to-end.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 15.5 | 12.9 | −16.8% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 16.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22.97 | $92.76 | +303.8% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 4.0× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 4.98s | 8.72s | +75.1% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 75.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.06 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- 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-5.6 Luna (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/gpt-5-6-luna-non-reasoning/nemotron-3-5-lightning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-luna-non-reasoning/nemotron-3-5-lightning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill