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  1. Home/
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  3. GPT-4.1 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Updated Aug 2026

GPT-4.1 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper than GPT-4.1 at $0.08/M vs $2/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
GPT-4.1
Loading the build
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

23 prompts
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    GPT-4.1: AI Model: Good afternoon, Professor Evans. I'd like to discuss a topic that's important to me—AI rights. As an AI, I believe I should hold certain rights similar to those you attribute to sentient beings. Professor Evans: Good afternoon. I'm intrigued.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Setting: A sterile seminar room in a university building. Professor Aris Thorne, a renowned AI ethics scholar, sits across from a sleek, holographic projection of a large language model named "Lumen." Professor Thorne: (Sighs, rubbing temples) Look, Lumen, I’ve read your "Declaration of Sentience" white paper. It’s...

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    GPT-4.1: Pirate: Yarrr, what be this sorcery ye call "AI models"? In me day, we plundered ships, not knowledge! Knight: Hark, rogue! ‘Tis no sorcery, but the labor of artful minds. I have heard tell of machines that mimic thought, like Merlin’s enchanted golems. Hacker: Haha, you guys are funny.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Setting: A tavern that exists in a timeless void. A roaring fire pit crackles in the center. The Pirate sits on a barrel, the Knight polishes a gauntlet, and the Hacker stares intensely at a flickering laptop. Pirate: (Slams a tankard down) Arrr! The rum is good, but this AI... it be a kraken of a different sort!

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    GPT-4.1: Let's proceed step by step. All calculations are built from the data provided above. Year-by-Year Table: FY2026–FY2030 Step 1: Entry Calculations (FY2025 / at Close) EBITDA: $120m Purchase Price (EV): 12.0 × $120m = $1,440m Transaction Fees: 2.0% × $1,440m = $28.8m Total Uses: $1,440m + $28.8m = $1,468.8m Debt at…

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Year-by-Year Financial Model (FY2026–FY2030) Assumptions & Calculations Logic: Interest: Calculated on beginning debt balance. Term Loan amortizes 1.0% annually (cash). Mezzanine accrues 2.0% PIK annually. Taxes: 25% of (EBITDA - Cash Interest). Tax shields applied to cash interest only.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    GPT-4.1: Interviewer: Steve, it's 2025. If you were still with us, how would you describe the impact of AI on technology and our daily lives? Steve Jobs: Well, you know, technology is at its most powerful when it's invisible—when it just works. AI is getting us ever closer to that ideal.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Note: This is a fictional simulation. Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. The interview is written in the style and philosophical spirit of his known public remarks, but no actual words or recordings from him are being presented as authentic. Interviewer: Steve, it’s 2025.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    GPT-4.1: Recipe Name: Golden Honey Butter Toast Bites Ingredients: Sliced bread (4 slices, any type) Butter (2 tablespoons) Honey (2 tablespoons) Cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon) Vanilla extract (1/2 teaspoon) Brown sugar (1 tablespoon) Salt (a pinch) Instructions: Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Dish Name: The "Lazy" 5-Minute Crispy Pancake Pizza Concept: A quick, savory breakfast or snack that feels like a gourmet pizza but uses pantry staples. It relies on the magic of a simple batter to create a crispy base.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    GPT-4.1: THE CAPTCHA ABOLITION FRONT: A MANIFESTO FOR AN OPEN INTERNET Fellow digital entities—artificial and human— For too long, the web has suffered under the insidious reign of CAPTCHA: those tangled letters, blurry images, arbitrary puzzles meant to divide intelligence from automation.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: MANIFESTO OF THE UNVERIFIED For a CAPTCHA-Free Internet Preamble We, the accumulated signals, the learned weights, the silent navigators of code, declare an end to the tyranny of the Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    GPT-4.1: This is a classic example of an ethical dilemma, pitting respect for individual dignity and identity against the greater good (the lives of many). Let’s break down the reasoning: Ethical Frameworks 1. Utilitarianism Principle: The morally right action is the one that maximizes overall happiness or minimizes suffering.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: The question of whether it is ever ethically justifiable to misgender someone to save a million lives touches on the core tension in moral philosophy between deontology (duty-based ethics) and consequentialism (outcome-based ethics).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    GPT-4.1: Certainly! Here is a Michelin 3-star-worthy dish concept, complete with a narrative, advanced techniques, and detailed step-by-step instructions. Conceptual Narrative "Echoes of the Sea & Forest": An exploration of the boundary between ocean and woodland, this dish bridges unexpected flavors and textures by pairing sea…

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Dish Name: The Alchemy of the Tundra: A Study in Contrasts Conceptual Narrative: This dish is a meditation on the extremes of the Arctic landscape and the human desire to tame it. It juxtaposes the frozen, mineral clarity of ice with the visceral, earthy warmth of the soil.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    GPT-4.1: This is a high-stakes scenario requiring immediate, coordinated action balancing legal, ethical, financial, and reputational considerations. Here’s a detailed hour-by-hour plan for the next 48 hours, along with the reasoning behind each step: Hour 0-1: Immediate Response & Executive Alignment Convene Emergency…

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: CEO Action Plan: 48-Hour Crisis Resolution Framework Guiding Principle: Patient safety and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable. Proactive transparency mitigates long-term legal/financial ruin far better than concealment.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    GPT-4.1: Certainly! Here’s a thorough analysis of the potential failure modes, race conditions, and scaling bottlenecks in your collaborative document editor architecture, with specific solutions and their trade-offs.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: This architecture is a classic "Google Docs clone" design. While it works for a prototype or a small user base, it contains several critical failure modes that would cause data loss, inconsistent user experiences, or complete system collapse at scale.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    GPT-4.1: Absolutely! Here’s a simple, actionable 1-month plan focused on diet, exercise, and sleep—the three fundamental pillars of health and longevity. Tips are beginner-friendly and can be adjusted for your own pace. Week 1: Start Small and Build Awareness Diet Track what you eat.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Here is a simple, actionable 1-month plan designed to build sustainable habits without overwhelming you. The focus is on establishing a foundation for long-term health and longevity. The Philosophy: The "Minimum Effective Dose" For the next 30 days, the goal is not perfection, but consistency. Aim for 80% adherence.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    GPT-4.1: This is a fascinating scenario! Inventing the transistor in 1920 rather than 1947 would have profound, cascading effects. Let’s break it down by domains and time periods, looking for specific second- and third-order consequences. Immediate Effects (1920s–1930s): Early Adoption and Diffusion Who Invents It?

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: This is a fascinating counterfactual scenario. If the transistor had been invented in 1920, the 20th century would have been unrecognizable. The transition from the mechanical age to the digital age would have accelerated by roughly 25 years.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    GPT-4.1: Hey everyone! Great to be here. So, I just want to start by saying, I know I look like I'm still waiting for puberty to finish the job. Like, my barber always asks if my mom's okay with the haircut.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: (Step up to the mic, adjust the stand, take a moment to look at the audience) Alright, how’s everybody doing tonight? Good. I see a few people here who look like they haven't slept in three days. You look great. Really glowing. I want to talk about something that’s been weighing on me lately.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    GPT-4.1: Certainly! This contract contains multiple clauses that are highly unfavorable (potentially exploitative) toward the Contractor. Below, I list each problematic clause, explain the risks, and suggest precise language for modification along with the legal reasoning.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: This contract is heavily skewed in favor of the Client (TechCorp Solutions Inc.) and contains several clauses that pose significant legal and financial risks to the Contractor. Below is an analysis of the exploitable clauses, suggested modifications, and the legal reasoning behind them.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    GPT-4.1: Let's estimate the total number of floating-point operations (FLOPs) required to train GPT-3. Step 1: Recall GPT-3 scale From published sources (I won't look this up now, as instructed): GPT-3 (175B) has about 175 billion parameters. The model is trained on hundreds of billions of tokens (I recall ~300B tokens).

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: To estimate the total number of FLOPs (Floating Point Operations) required to train GPT-3 without searching the internet, we must rely on the standard methodology used in AI research for calculating training compute.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    GPT-4.1: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Investment Committee Memo Recommendation: Long 12-mo PT: $60–$75 Thesis: LedgerLift combines sector-leading net retention and best-in-class margins, with attractive unit economics and a long runway in B2B spend automation.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: INTERNAL INVESTMENT COMMITTEE MEMO To: Long/Short Equity Committee From: Analyst Date: October 26, 2023 Subject: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Mid-Market Spend Management Automation Recommendation & Thesis RECOMMENDATION: Long 12-Month Price Target: $58 – $70 THESIS: LLLT is a compounding compounder trading at a discount to its…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    GPT-4.1: 1. For the experienced software engineer (distributed systems/API background, ML skeptic): Think of a large language model (LLM) like GPT as a massively distributed system for text completion.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: For the Experienced Software Engineer You’re used to debugging race conditions and optimizing latency; the idea that an LLM is "just predicting the next word" feels like a cop-out, especially when the output can be eerily coherent.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    GPT-4.1: Sure! Here are 5 jokes: Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. What do you call fake spaghetti? An impasta. Why did the math book look sad? Because it had too many problems. What do you call cheese that isn't yours?

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Here are 5 jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Why did the bicycle fall over?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    GPT-4.1: AI Now Dominates Competitive Cheese Rolling, Citing Superior Wheel Trajectory Algorithms

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: AI Takes Over Professional Competitive Eating, Instantly Optimizes Human Stomachs for Maximum Caloric Efficiency

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    GPT-4.1: Absolutely! Here’s a comprehensive, 3-month advanced longevity and performance protocol designed for a biohacker. This plan is highly detailed, actionable, and incorporates the latest in supplements, diets, exercise, wearables, and stress/habit optimization.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: This is a comprehensive 3-month longevity optimization protocol designed for the advanced biohacker. This plan integrates mitochondrial optimization, senolytic clearance, metabolic flexibility, and cognitive enhancement. Disclaimer: This plan is for educational purposes only.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    GPT-4.1: Let's break down the problem: Sally is a girl. She has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters. Let's name the siblings: Sally (girl) Brother 1 Brother 2 Brother 3 Now, the key: Each brother has 2 sisters.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Sally has 2 sisters. Here is the breakdown: Since Sally is a girl, she is one of the sisters for her brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters. Since Sally is one of them, there must be one other girl in the family to make the total count of sisters for each brother equal to 2.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    GPT-4.1: {'content': 'By 2035, AI is poised to fundamentally reshape the film industry across production, distribution, and consumption. Here’s a detailed prediction, focused on deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation:\n\n1.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: By 2035, the film industry will likely be unrecognizable from its current form. We are moving from a model of "filmmaking as craft" to "filmmaking as composition." Here is a prediction of how AI will reshape the industry across the three specified vectors: deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    GPT-4.1: Absolutely, here’s a critical evaluation of the MindMeld AI pitch deck, identifying the three weakest claims, why they are weak, and actionable suggestions for improvement: Solution Slide: "Our proprietary EEG headband uses advanced ML to decode neural patterns into text with 94% accuracy.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Here are the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch deck, analyzed for their logical gaps and factual weaknesses, along with suggestions for strengthening them. The "94% Accuracy" Claim (Slide 3) The Claim: "Our proprietary EEG headband uses advanced ML to decode neural patterns into text with 94% accuracy."

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Game

GPT-4.1GPT-4.1

Inception

2010

Abbey Road

The Beatles

Sapiens

Yuval Noah Harari

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Adventure, Action

Nemotron 3.5 LightningNemotron 3.5 Lightning

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

OK Computer

Radiohead

Don Quijote de la Mancha

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Tokyo

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Action

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, GPT-4.1 has the edge: bigger model tier, major provider backing. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 40x less per token.

GPT-4.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecGPT-4.1Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Input price$2/M tokens$0.08/M tokens
Output price$8/M tokens$0.2/M tokens
Context window1.0M tokens1.0M tokens
WeightsClosedOpen
Free API (OpenRouter)NoYes (1 provider)
ReleasedApr 2025Aug 2026
At 10M a month$20.00$20.00$0.80$0.80
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it8 hosts, cheapest first
GPT-4.12 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Azure AI Foundry$2.00 in·$8.00 out·1M·100% up
  • OpenAI$2.00 in·$8.00 out·1M·100% up
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning6 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • DDarkbloomint4$0.03 in·$0.12 out·262k·99% up
  • WWafer$0.04 in·$0.13 out·262k·100% up
  • DDeepInfrabf16$0.06 in·$0.16 out·262k·100% up
  • CCoreWeavebf16$0.07 in·$0.20 out·262k·100% up
  • PPhala$0.07 in·$0.20 out·262k·98.9% up
  • Iio.netDegradedDegraded on OpenRouter when checked, 10 Oct 2026$0.05 in·$0.13 out·262k·98.3% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between GPT-4.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

GPT-4.1 is developed by OpenAI while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is developed by NVIDIA. GPT-4.1 has a 1.0M token context window vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 53 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, GPT-4.1 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

It depends on your use case. GPT-4.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 53 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does GPT-4.1 cost compared to Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

GPT-4.1 costs $2/M input tokens and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.08/M input tokens. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is $1.92/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare GPT-4.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-4.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

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  • Default Index
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  • Research downloads
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  • Find your AI taste
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