GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) by OpenAI or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning by NVIDIA? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) scores 21.7 points higher (34.6 vs 12.9) but costs 1.8× as much to run the benchmark ($179 vs $99.0; both mid-range class). Pick GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Nemotron 3.5 Lightning.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.6 | 12.9 | −62.7% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 62.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $179.33 | $99.03 | −44.8% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 44.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 45.86s | 8.76s | −80.9% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 80.9% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.06 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh): 62.7% less intelligence, 44.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 80.9% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Terra (Medium) scores 41.30 for $175.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (High) scores 37.80 for $94.1.
GPT-5.6 Luna (Xhigh)Nemotron 3.5 LightningToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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