Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B): Specs & Benchmark Comparison
Gemini 3.6 Flash is developed by Google, while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) comes from NVIDIA. Gemini 3.6 Flash was released in July 2026, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) followed a month later in August 2026. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) has a published size of about 30 billion parameters; Google has not disclosed the parameter count of Gemini 3.6 Flash.
We have 7 benchmark results for Gemini 3.6 Flash and 13 benchmark results for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B), but they overlap on a single test: Terminal-Bench 2.1, where Gemini 3.6 Flash scores 78.0% against 24.6%.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is the cheaper API at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens, roughly 30 times cheaper than Gemini 3.6 Flash at $1.50 and $7.50. Gemini 3.6 Flash takes the larger context window at 1M tokens, compared with 262K for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B). Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text and images as input, while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) accepts text.
| Characteristic | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) |
|---|---|---|
| Company | NVIDIA | |
| Release Date | July 21, 2026 | August 11, 2026 |
| Parameters | — | 30B |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Context (input) | 1.0M | 262K |
| Context (output) | 66K | 262K |
| Input Price / 1M | $1.50 | $0.05 |
| Output Price / 1M | $7.50 | $0.20 |
| Average Score | 68.0% | 45.3% |
| Benchmarks | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 78.0% | 24.6% |
Visual Benchmark Comparison
Verdict
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: Gemini 3.6 Flash — 0.7, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) — 0.5.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is 36.0x cheaper: input $0.05/1M vs $1.50/1M tokens.
Gemini 3.6 Flash supports a larger context: 1M vs 262K tokens.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is newer: released 8/11/2026 vs 7/21/2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — Gemini 3.6 Flash or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?
Which model is cheaper — Gemini 3.6 Flash or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?
Which has a larger context window — Gemini 3.6 Flash or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?
The Gemini 3.6 Flash and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the Gemini 3.6 Flash or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.