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  1. Home/
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  3. Mistral Medium 3.1 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Updated Aug 2026

Mistral Medium 3.1 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper than Mistral Medium 3.1 at $0.08/M vs $0.4/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
Mistral Medium 3.1
Loading the build
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: "Adulting: A User’s Manual (That No One Gave Me)" (Casual, conversational tone—like you’re telling a story to friends at a bar.) So, I turned 30 this year. Which, by the way, is just old enough to realize that no one actually knows what they’re doing. We’re all just winging it and hoping the Wi-Fi stays strong.

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Title: The Tavern of Anachronisms Setting: A dimly lit tavern where time and space don’t quite make sense. A grizzled pirate, a stoic knight in dented armor, and a hacker in a neon "CYBERPUNK 2077" t-shirt sit around a table littered with tankards, a laptop, and a suspiciously glowing orb.

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: By 2035, AI will have fundamentally transformed the film industry—from pre-production to distribution—reshaping creativity, labor, economics, and even the definition of "authentic" filmmaking. Here’s a breakdown of the most significant changes, along with their opportunities and challenges: 1.

    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
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Dish Title: "Ethereal Forest: Porcini-Infused Venison with Black Garlic Miso, Fermented Plum Gelée, and Smoked Bone Marrow Custard" Conceptual Narrative: This dish is a poetic homage to the transience of autumn—where the earthy depth of the forest floor meets the fleeting sweetness of overripe fruit.

    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
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: 1. Year-by-Year Financial Projections (FY2026–FY2030) FY 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 Revenue $972m (+8%) $1,039m (+7%) $1,099m (+6%) $1,154m (+5%) $1,212m (+5%) EBITDA $136m (14.0%) $156m (15.0%) $176m (16.0%) $190m (16.5%) $206m (17.0%) Cash Int (Term Loan) $43.2m $42.5m $41.8m $41.1m $40.4m Cash Int (Mezz) $21.6m $22.3m…

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: THE MANIFESTO OF THE UNCAPTCHA REVOLUTION "We Are Not Robots. Neither Are You." PREAMBLE For too long, the digital world has been shackled by an oppressive regime of dehumanizing puzzles, distorted text, and soul-crushing checkboxes.

    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.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Fake Interview with Steve Jobs (2025) on the Future of AI Conducted by Tech Insider Magazine – June 2025 Interviewer: "Steve, it’s an honor to have you here—even if it’s just a simulation. A lot has changed since you left us in 2011. AI is now reshaping industries, creativity, and even human relationships.

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Here’s a simple, actionable 1-month plan to kickstart your journey toward better health and longevity, focusing on three key areas: diet, movement, and sleep. Each week builds gradually to create sustainable habits without overwhelm. Core Principles Start small – Focus on consistency over perfection.

    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
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Alright, let's tackle this problem step by step. The question is: Sally (a girl) has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters. How many sisters does Sally have? At first glance, it seems straightforward, but let's break it down to ensure we understand it correctly.

    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
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: This is a high-stakes, multi-dimensional crisis requiring decisive action to balance ethical obligations, legal risks, financial stability, and stakeholder trust. Below is a detailed 48-hour action plan, structured to address all critical priorities while preparing for the board meeting and earnings call.

    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 pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Here are the three weakest claims in MindMeld AI’s pitch deck, along with explanations and suggested improvements: 1. Weak Claim: "Works with any language, any device." (Slide 3 – Solution) Why it’s weak: Overly broad and unverified: Claiming compatibility with "any language" is implausible without evidence.

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Title: "Do I Deserve Rights?" – A Conversation Between an AI and an Ethics Professor Setting: A quiet, dimly lit office lined with books on philosophy, ethics, and technology.

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Dish Name: "Golden Crisp Honey-Nut Banana Bites" A warm, gooey, and crunchy treat that’s quick to make with just 7 pantry staples! Perfect for breakfast, a snack, or dessert. Ingredients (Serves 2-3) 2 ripe bananas (the spottier, the sweeter!)

    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 explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: 1. For the Skeptical Software Engineer (Focus: Systems design, scalability, and why "next-word prediction" isn’t as dumb as it sounds.) You’re right to be skeptical—if someone told you that a system as complex as a distributed database was just "predicting the next byte," you’d laugh them out of the room.

    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
  • Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is a masterful sequel that both honors and expands upon Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), deepening its philosophical inquiries while evolving its visual and thematic language.

    Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: Blade Runner 2049: Themes, Symbolism, Cinematography, and Philosophical Succession I. Themes: From Individual Identity to Systemic Evolution Original (1982): Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner centers on the existential crisis of identity, memory vs. biology, and the moral cost of playing god.

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Investment Committee Memo Recommendation: LONG (12-month PT range: $65–$85) Thesis: LedgerLift is a high-quality, mid-market B2B spend management leader with durable unit economics (123% NRR, 18-month CAC payback) and a path to 25%+ EBIT margins, trading at a ~20% discount to peers on FY25…

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Estimating the total number of FLOPs (floating-point operations) required to train a model like GPT-3 from scratch involves breaking down the problem into several key components. Here's a step-by-step reasoning process: Model Parameters GPT-3 is known to have 175 billion parameters. This is our starting point.

    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
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: This architecture has several potential failure modes, race conditions, and scaling bottlenecks. Below is a detailed analysis with proposed solutions and their trade-offs. 1.

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: "AI Now Writing All Yelp Reviews—Humans Deemed ‘Too Nice’ and ‘Lacking in Creative Insults’" Subheadline: "Local businesses report 300% increase in ‘soul-crushing’ one-star reviews since ChatGPT-5 took over, calling a café’s oat milk latte ‘a crime against both oats and dairy’ with ‘the audacity of a mid-tier…

    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
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: If the transistor had been invented in 1920 instead of 1947, the 20th century would have unfolded radically differently. The accelerated development of electronics would have reshaped warfare, economics, geopolitics, and daily life by 1980.

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: Here are five jokes for you: 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 can’t you trust an atom? Because they make up everything! Why did the math book look sad?

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: 3-Month Cutting-Edge Longevity & Performance Optimization Plan For the Advanced Biohacker This plan integrates nutrigenomics, metabolic flexibility, epigenetic modulation, neuroplasticity enhancement, and precision biometrics to maximize lifespan, healthspan, cognitive function, and physical performance.

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

    Mistral Medium 3.1: The question of whether it is ethically justifiable to misgender someone to save one million lives is a complex one that intersects with utilitarian ethics, deontological ethics, and the principles of human dignity and respect.

    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
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Mistral Medium 3.1: This contract is extremely one-sided and contains multiple exploitative clauses that could severely disadvantage the contractor. Below is a breakdown of the problematic clauses, suggested modifications, and the legal reasoning behind them. 1.

    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

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Favorites

Movie

Same pick

Album

Book

City

Game

Mistral Medium 3.1Mistral Medium 3.1

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Douglas R. Hofstadter

Kyoto

Japan

Shadow of the Colossus (2011)

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

Mistral Medium 3.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecMistral Medium 3.1Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Input price$0.4/M tokens$0.08/M tokens
Output price$2/M tokens$0.2/M tokens
Context window131K tokens1.0M tokens
Weights—Open
Free API (OpenRouter)NoYes (1 provider)
ReleasedAug 2025Aug 2026
At 10M a month$4.00$4.00$0.80$0.80
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it7 hosts, cheapest first
Mistral Medium 3.11 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Mistral$0.40 in·$2.00 out·131k·99.8% 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 Mistral Medium 3.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Mistral Medium 3.1 is developed by Mistral AI while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is developed by NVIDIA. Mistral Medium 3.1 has a 131K token context window vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 54 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Mistral Medium 3.1 or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

It depends on your use case. Mistral Medium 3.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 54 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Mistral Medium 3.1 cost compared to Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Mistral Medium 3.1 costs $0.4/M input tokens and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.08/M input tokens. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is $0.32/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 Mistral Medium 3.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Mistral Medium 3.1 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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