AI model comparison
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Muse Glimmer 30B
Side by side comparison of Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Muse Glimmer 30B on pricing, benchmark scores, context window, and more.
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is an open mixture-of-experts model from NVIDIA, with 3B active parameters out of 30B total.
- Input / 1M
- $0.07
- Output / 1M
- $0.20
- Context
- 262K
Muse Glimmer 30B is a dense, open-weight multimodal model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, distilled from Muse Spark and optimized for autonomous agents on consumer hardware.
- Input / 1M
- $0.30
- Output / 1M
- $1.20
- Context
- 131K
Comparing image generators? Compare image models
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
5.0x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Muse Glimmer 30B
6.3 vs 5.5 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
262K vs 131K tokens
Newer release
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Released August 11, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Coding index
Agentic index
Pricing
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Muse Glimmer 30B API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.07 | $0.30 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.20 | $1.20 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.04 | $0.04 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 262K tokens | 131K tokens |
| Max output | 236K tokens | 16K tokens |
| Input types | Text | Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Extra high, High, Medium, Low |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Medium |
| Release date | August 11, 2026 | August 9, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Command A+
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Mistral Small 4
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Solar Mini 4
- Muse Glimmer 30B vs Inkling Small
- Muse Glimmer 30B vs Nemotron 3 Ultra
- Muse Glimmer 30B vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
- Muse Glimmer 30B vs Command A+
- Muse Glimmer 30B vs Mistral Small 4
- Muse Glimmer 30B vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
- Muse Glimmer 30B vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
- Muse Glimmer 30B vs Hy4 preview
- Muse Glimmer 30B vs GPT-5.6 Luna
Our take
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 5.0x cheaper for a typical chat. Muse Glimmer 30B scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (6.3 vs 5.5). Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has the larger context window (262K vs 131K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Muse Glimmer 30B cheaper?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.07 per 1M input tokens and $0.20 per 1M output tokens, while Muse Glimmer 30B costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Muse Glimmer 30B?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning supports up to 262K tokens of context, compared with 131K for Muse Glimmer 30B.
Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning smarter than Muse Glimmer 30B?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning scores 5.5 and Muse Glimmer 30B scores 6.3, putting Muse Glimmer 30B ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Muse Glimmer 30B at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Muse Glimmer 30B answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Muse Glimmer 30B at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.