GPT-5.6 Luna vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B): Specs & Benchmark Comparison
GPT-5.6 Luna is developed by OpenAI, while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) comes from NVIDIA. GPT-5.6 Luna 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; OpenAI has not disclosed the parameter count of GPT-5.6 Luna.
The two models share 3 published benchmarks. GPT-5.6 Luna leads on 3 of them. The widest gaps are on Terminal-Bench 2.1, where GPT-5.6 Luna scores 84.7% against 24.6%; BrowseComp, where GPT-5.6 Luna scores 83.3% against 37.0%. Averaged across everything we track, GPT-5.6 Luna sits at 51.5% and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) at 45.3%.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is the cheaper API at $0.08 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens, roughly 3 times cheaper than GPT-5.6 Luna at $0.20 and $1.20. GPT-5.6 Luna takes the larger context window at 1M tokens, compared with 262K for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B). GPT-5.6 Luna accepts text and images as input, while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) accepts text.
| Characteristic | GPT-5.6 Luna | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) |
|---|---|---|
| Company | OpenAI | NVIDIA |
| Release Date | July 9, 2026 | August 11, 2026 |
| Parameters | — | 30B |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Context (input) | 1.1M | 262K |
| Context (output) | 128K | 262K |
| Input Price / 1M | $0.20 | $0.08 |
| Output Price / 1M | $1.20 | $0.20 |
| Average Score | 51.5% | 45.3% |
| Benchmarks | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 84.7% | 24.6% |
| BrowseComp | 83.3% | 37.0% |
| GPQA | 92.3% | 75.0% |
Visual Benchmark Comparison
Verdict
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: GPT-5.6 Luna — 0.5, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) — 0.5.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is 5.0x cheaper: input $0.08/1M vs $0.20/1M tokens.
GPT-5.6 Luna supports a larger context: 1M vs 262K tokens.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is newer: released 8/11/2026 vs 7/9/2026.
More About These Models
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — GPT-5.6 Luna or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?
Which model is cheaper — GPT-5.6 Luna or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?
Which has a larger context window — GPT-5.6 Luna or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?
The GPT-5.6 Luna 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-5.6 Luna or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.