MiniMax M3 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Price, context window & benchmark comparison

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MiniMax M3

MiniMax
$0.30 / $1.20
Input / Output · per 1M tokens
VS
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Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

NVIDIA
$0.08 / $0.20
Input / Output · per 1M tokens
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Verdict: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 4.8× cheaper than MiniMax M3 on a typical 3:1 input/output mix. MiniMax M3 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (29.2 vs 12.9). MiniMax M3 has the larger context window (1M vs 262K).
MiniMax M3Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Input price / 1M$0.30$0.08
Output price / 1M$1.20$0.20
Blended price (3:1)$0.52$0.11
Cached input / 1M$0.06$0.04
Context window1M262K
Max output512K131K
Intelligence index29.212.9
Coding index58.626.8
Providers134
Best provider uptime (30m)100.0%100.0%
Vision inputYesNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Released2026-05-312026-08-11
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FAQ

Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is 4.8× cheaper than MiniMax M3 on a typical 3:1 input/output mix.

MiniMax M3 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: which has a bigger context window?

MiniMax M3: 1,048,576 tokens. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 262,144 tokens.

How much would 1 million requests cost?

At 2,000 input + 500 output tokens per request: MiniMax M3 ≈ $1,200, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning ≈ $260.00.

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