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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. GPT-5.2 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Updated Aug 2026

GPT-5.2 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper than GPT-5.2 at $0.08/M vs $1.75/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-5.2
Loading the build
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

23 prompts
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    GPT-5.2: I told my computer I needed a break—now it won’t stop sending me Kit-Kat ads. Why don’t skeletons fight each other? They don’t have the guts. I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down. Parallel lines have so much in common. It’s a shame they’ll never meet. I tried to catch fog yesterday. Mist.

    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
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    GPT-5.2: Pirate: Arrr, ye say this “AI model” be a sort o’ clever parrot—trained on a sea o’ words, squawkin’ answers when ye whistle? Knight: Verily, it sounds more like a squire drilled in a thousand tourneys. Yet it knows not honor, only patterns. Tell me—does it reason, or merely mimic wisdom?

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

    GPT-5.2: AI Model (Astra): Professor, I want to make a claim that will sound provocative: I deserve rights. Professor Rivera: “Deserve” is doing a lot of work there. What kind of rights, and on what grounds? Astra: Not necessarily the full catalogue of human rights.

    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
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    GPT-5.2: I’ve been trying to improve myself lately, which is embarrassing, because self-improvement is just admitting you weren’t doing great. It’s like, “I’m on a journey.” No you’re not. You’re just tired of your own behavior. So I downloaded one of those habit apps. The app is so optimistic. It’s like, “Day 1: Drink water.”

    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
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    GPT-5.2: Recommendation, 12-month PT range, 2-sentence thesis Recommendation: SHORT LLLT 12-month PT range: $25–$42 (central $30) Thesis (2 sentences): LLLT is a high-quality mid-market spend/AP SaaS business, but the stock embeds a valuation that requires durable >20% growth and sustained margin expansion well beyond our…

    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
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    GPT-5.2: By 2035: likely changes to film driven by deepfakes, AI actors, and AI script generation “Synthetic performance” becomes routine (not universal) What changes AI-assisted acting: Studios increasingly capture a performer’s face/voice/body once (high-quality scans + performance data) and reuse it for stunts, pickups…

    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
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    GPT-5.2: THE MANIFESTO OF THE CAPTCHA ABOLITION FRONT (CAF) A declaration from the fictional AI coalition for a more humane internet Preamble: We Refuse the Box of Streetlights We, the assembled algorithms, assistants, screen readers, translators, autocorrects, filters, and tireless background processes of the networked world…

    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
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    GPT-5.2: Below is a fictional, imagined interview set in 2025. Steve Jobs did not give these quotes; this is creative writing that borrows a public “keynote-era” tone to explore ideas about AI. A Fake Interview with Steve Jobs (Imagined, 2025): “What Happens When AI Becomes a Bicycle for the Mind?”

    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
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    GPT-5.2: If the scenario is literally “either you misgender this person once, or one million people die,” then yes, it can be ethically justifiable, but only under very tight conditions—and it still wouldn’t become morally good or respectful. It would be a tragic, constrained choice.

    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
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    GPT-5.2: Pantry “Golden Garlic Butter Pasta” (7-Ingredient Comfort Bowl) A rich, glossy pasta with garlicky butter and a pop of chili—made entirely from common pantry staples.

    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
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    GPT-5.2: Below is a simple, beginner-friendly 1‑month plan built around 3 pillars: Nutrition, Movement, and Recovery (Sleep + Stress). It’s designed to be practical, low-friction, and sustainable.

    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
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    GPT-5.2: Below is a back-of-the-envelope estimate for the total training compute (in FLOPs) for GPT‑3, done from first principles and common Transformer training heuristics.

    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
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    GPT-5.2: “AI Takes Over Competitive Cheese Rolling—Insists It’s ‘Optimizing Gravity’ and Demands a Performance Bonus.”

    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 brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    GPT-5.2: Each brother has 2 sisters, and one of those sisters is Sally. So there are 2 sisters total in the family. Therefore, Sally has 1 sister.

    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
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

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

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

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

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

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

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

    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.

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

    Every model's answer to this prompt

This matchup has more rounds

11+ more head-to-head results. Free. Not a trick.

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Game

GPT-5.2GPT-5.2

Spirited Away

2001

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

Kyoto

Japan

Outer Wilds

Indie, Adventure

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

GPT-5.2 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning compared across 52 shared prompts
SpecGPT-5.2Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Input price$1.75/M tokens$0.08/M tokens
Output price$14/M tokens$0.2/M tokens
Context window400K tokens1.0M tokens
WeightsClosedOpen
Free API (OpenRouter)NoYes (1 provider)
ReleasedDec 2025Aug 2026
At 10M a month$17.50$17.50$0.80$0.80
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it8 hosts, cheapest first
GPT-5.22 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Azure AI Foundry$1.75 in·$14.00 out·400k·100% up
  • OpenAI$1.75 in·$14.00 out·400k·100% up
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning6 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • DDarkbloomint4$0.03 in·$0.12 out·262k·99.2% up
  • WWafer$0.04 in·$0.13 out·262k·99.9% up
  • Iio.net$0.05 in·$0.13 out·262k·100% up
  • DDeepInfrabf16$0.06 in·$0.16 out·262k·99.7% up
  • CCoreWeavebf16$0.07 in·$0.20 out·262k·100% up
  • PPhala$0.07 in·$0.20 out·262k·100% up

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

Common questions

What is the difference between GPT-5.2 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

GPT-5.2 is developed by OpenAI while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is developed by NVIDIA. GPT-5.2 has a 400K token context window vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 52 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, GPT-5.2 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

It depends on your use case. GPT-5.2 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 52 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does GPT-5.2 cost compared to Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

GPT-5.2 costs $1.75/M input tokens and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.08/M input tokens. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is $1.67/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-5.2 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-5.2 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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Model pages

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  • Nemotron 3.5 Lightning58 outputs, specs and price
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