GPT-5.2 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B): Specs & Benchmark Comparison

GPT-5.2 is developed by OpenAI, while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) comes from NVIDIA. GPT-5.2 was released in December 2025, and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) followed 8 months later in August 2026. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) has a published size of about 30 billion parameters; OpenAI has not disclosed the parameter count of GPT-5.2.

The two models share 4 published benchmarks. GPT-5.2 leads on 4 of them. The widest gaps are on BrowseComp, where GPT-5.2 scores 65.8% against 37.0%; SWE-Bench Verified, where GPT-5.2 scores 80.0% against 51.6%. Averaged across everything we track, GPT-5.2 sits at 78.2% and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) at 45.3%.

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 GPT-5.2 at $1.50 and $6. Both accept a context window of about 256K tokens. GPT-5.2 accepts text, images, audio, and video as input, while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) accepts text.

CharacteristicGPT-5.2Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)
CompanyOpenAINVIDIA
Release DateDecember 10, 2025August 11, 2026
Parameters30B
MultimodalYesNo
Context (input)256K262K
Context (output)128K262K
Input Price / 1M$1.50$0.05
Output Price / 1M$6.00$0.20
Average Score78.2%45.3%
Benchmarks
BrowseComp65.8%37.0%
SWE-Bench Verified80.0%51.6%
Humanity's Last Exam34.5%11.7%
GPQA92.0%75.0%

Visual Benchmark Comparison

GPT-5.2
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)
BrowseComp0.7 vs 0.4
0.7
0.4
SWE-Bench Verified0.8 vs 0.5
0.8
0.5
Humanity's Last Exam0.3 vs 0.1
0.3
0.1
GPQA0.9 vs 0.8
0.9
0.8

Verdict

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) leads in 3 out of 5 comparison categories.

Overall Performance

Both models show comparable average scores: GPT-5.2 — 0.8, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) — 0.5.

Programming

On SWE-Bench, both models are nearly equal: GPT-5.2 — 0.8, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) — 0.5.

API Cost

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is 30.0x cheaper: input $0.05/1M vs $1.50/1M tokens.

Context Window

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) supports a larger context: 262K vs 256K tokens.

Recency

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is newer: released 8/11/2026 vs 12/10/2025.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better for coding — GPT-5.2 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?
On the SWE-Bench benchmark, GPT-5.2 shows a better result: 80.0% vs 51.6%.
Which model is cheaper — GPT-5.2 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is cheaper for input: $0.05 per 1M tokens vs $1.50.
Which has a larger context window — GPT-5.2 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) supports a larger context: 262,100 tokens vs 256,000.

The GPT-5.2 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 GPT-5.2 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.