Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) vs Step-3.5-Flash

    Comparison

    As of August 20, 2026, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is 50% cheaper per million tokens than Step-3.5-Flash. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is $0.05 / $0.20 per million input/output tokens versus Step-3.5-Flash at $0.10 / $0.40. Sources: https://build.nvidia.com and https://anotherwrapper.com/tools/llm-pricing

    Sources: NVIDIA pricing (https://build.nvidia.com); AnotherWrapper LLM pricing (https://anotherwrapper.com/tools/llm-pricing)

    Better value

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)

    NVIDIA

    $0.25blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.05

    Output

    $0.20

    262.1K ctx|Open Source
    50%
    cheaper

    Step-3.5-Flash

    StepFun

    $0.50blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.10

    Output

    $0.40

    65.5K ctx|Open Source
    Save $0.25 per million tokens by choosing Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) over Step-3.5-Flash.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) vs Step-3.5-Flash comparison

    Token pricing, specs, and benchmarks side by side

    Metric
    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)
    Step-3.5-Flash
    Provider
    Provider
    NVIDIA
    StepFun
    License
    Open Source
    Open Source
    Release Date
    2026-08-11
    2026-02-02
    Pricing (per 1M tokens)
    Input Price-50%
    $0.05
    $0.10
    Output Price-50%
    $0.20
    $0.40
    Blended (1M + 1M)
    $0.25
    $0.50
    Model Details
    Context Window
    262.1K
    65.5K
    Max Output Tokens
    262.1K
    8.2K
    Knowledge Cutoff
    N/A
    N/A
    Throughput
    N/A
    150 tok/s
    Benchmarks
    11.7%
    75.4%
    32.6%
    37.0%
    69%
    71.9%
    52%
    97.3%
    81.9%
    17.5%
    85.4%
    88.2%
    Benchmark Wins
    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) 0|2 Step-3.5-Flash

    Verdict

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) vs Step-3.5-Flash: the bottom line

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) offers significantly lower pricing, while Step-3.5-Flash leads on benchmark performance. Your choice depends on whether cost efficiency or raw capability matters more for your use case.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) vs Step-3.5-Flash FAQ

    Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) or Step-3.5-Flash?

    As of August 20, 2026, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is 50% cheaper on blended LLM API pricing. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) costs $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens ($0.25 blended 1M-in + 1M-out). Step-3.5-Flash costs $0.10 / $0.40 per million tokens ($0.50 blended). Sources: https://build.nvidia.com and https://anotherwrapper.com/tools/llm-pricing. The cheapest LLM for your app still depends on how many output tokens you generate.

    How much does Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) vs Step-3.5-Flash cost per million tokens?

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) NVIDIA API pricing is $0.05 input and $0.20 output per million tokens via NVIDIA. Step-3.5-Flash StepFun API pricing is $0.10 input and $0.40 output per million tokens via StepFun. Use those four numbers, not ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro subscription prices, when you are comparing APIs.

    Which is better for coding, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) or Step-3.5-Flash?

    Step-3.5-Flash leads on SWE-bench Verified: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) at 51.6% vs Step-3.5-Flash at 74.4%. SWE-bench measures real GitHub fixes; LiveCodeBench measures contest programming.

    What is the context window for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) vs Step-3.5-Flash?

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) supports a 262K token context window, while Step-3.5-Flash supports 66K tokens. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) offers a larger context window. Filling a larger window bills more input tokens, so the cheaper-per-million model can still cost more on long documents.

    Which model performs better on benchmarks, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) or Step-3.5-Flash?

    Step-3.5-Flash leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks versus Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)'s 0 wins. Check the comparison table for GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench, MMLU, HLE, and the other evals we track. Token price and benchmark score together are the usual LLM comparison, not either number alone.

    Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) or Step-3.5-Flash better for production use?

    Both Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) and Step-3.5-Flash are production API models. For cost-sensitive production traffic, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) has better economics on the blended 1M-in + 1M-out scale. For maximum capability, weight the benchmark table for your domain. Many production stacks route cheap models for drafts and a frontier model for the hard turn, which is usually cheaper than sending everything to the expensive API.

    Can I switch between Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) and Step-3.5-Flash in my app?

    Yes. Call Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) through NVIDIA and Step-3.5-Flash through StepFun with separate API keys, or through a gateway that already wraps both. Keep prompts in tokens, not characters, when you estimate the invoice. AnotherWrapper templates can swap providers without rewriting auth and billing.

    How accurate is this Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) vs Step-3.5-Flash pricing data?

    List rates are the latest published NVIDIA API pricing and StepFun API pricing, quoted per million tokens. Official rate sheets: https://build.nvidia.com and https://anotherwrapper.com/tools/llm-pricing. Prompt caching, batch APIs, and committed-use discounts can change the invoice. Benchmark scores are from official publications and independent evals, updated as new numbers land.

    What is the output token limit for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) and Step-3.5-Flash?

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) supports up to 262K output tokens per request, while Step-3.5-Flash supports up to 8K output tokens. Output tokens are usually the expensive half of API pricing, so a higher max output cap is a capability, not a discount.

    Which model has better throughput, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) or Step-3.5-Flash?

    Step-3.5-Flash has a measured throughput of approximately 150 tokens/second. Throughput data for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is not yet available. Throughput (tokens per second) and time-to-first-token are why two models with the same per-million-token price can still feel different in chat and agents.

    How do I switch the models in this Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) vs Step-3.5-Flash comparison?

    Use the model pickers at the top of this LLM comparison. Search any model in the index and the URL updates. Open Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) or Step-3.5-Flash from the sidebar for the single-model API pricing page, or go back to the LLM pricing table to sort by cheapest blended cost.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) vs Step-3.5-Flash pricing

    This comparison covers API pricing, context window, throughput, and benchmark scores. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) costs $0.05/M input and $0.20/M output. Step-3.5-Flash costs $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output.

    Rank both on the LLM leaderboard, SWE-bench, and Humanity's Last Exam.

    The index

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