GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) 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.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) scores 17.2 points higher (30.1 vs 12.9) but costs 4.8× as much to run the benchmark ($447 vs $92.6; both mid-range class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) when you need intelligence above 12.9, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning when 12.9 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.1 | 12.9 | −57.1% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 57.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $446.53 | $92.58 | −79.3% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 79.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.99s | 8.73s | +45.7% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 45.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $0.06 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium): 57.1% less intelligence, 79.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 45.7% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- 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 Terra (Medium)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-terra-medium/nemotron-3-5-lightning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-terra-medium/nemotron-3-5-lightning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill