GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Which is better for the money: GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) 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-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 38.9 points higher (51.8 vs 12.9) but costs 12× as much to run the benchmark ($1082 vs $92.8; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) when you need intelligence above 12.9, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning when 12.9 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 51.8 | 12.9 | −75.1% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 75.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,081.55 | $92.76 | −91.4% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 91.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 220.48s | 9.16s | −95.8% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 95.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $0.06 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs GPT-6.1 Sol (Max): 75.1% less intelligence, 91.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 95.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- 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-6.1 Sol (Max)Nemotron 3.5 LightningToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-1-sol/nemotron-3-5-lightning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-1-sol/nemotron-3-5-lightning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill