GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning) vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Which is better for the money: GPT-6.1 Terra (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 2026-10-27.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning) scores 20.6 points higher (33.5 vs 12.9) but costs 1.6× as much to run the benchmark ($154 vs $99.0; both mid-range class). Pick GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Nemotron 3.5 Lightning.
| Metric | GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning) | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 33.5 | 12.9 | −61.5% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 61.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $153.58 | $99.03 | −35.5% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 35.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.61s | 8.76s | +32.5% Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 32.5% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.00 / $5.00 | $0.06 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning): 61.5% less intelligence, 35.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 32.5% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
- 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-6.1 Terra (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-6-1-terra-non-reasoning/nemotron-3-5-lightning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-1-terra-non-reasoning/nemotron-3-5-lightning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill