Model comparison
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 39.3 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 17× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 0 shared benchmarks.
NVIDIA
StepFunSummary
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 38.0 to 25.7.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.16 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 262K.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | NVIDIA | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 39.3 | 43.8 |
| Released | 2026-08-11 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 262K | 1.02M |
| Max output | 262K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.06 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.16 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 18 | 3 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 5 Preview leads
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.6 (#143), Step 5 Preview: 50.6 (#40)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1569 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
| LMArena Coding | 1370 | — |
Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 25.7 (#128), Step 5 Preview: 38.0 (#58)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1335 | — |
Math Not comparable
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 34.7 (#156), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1355 | — |
Knowledge Not comparable
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 36.9 (#154), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1354 | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 44.0 (#175), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1292 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1356 | — |
| LMArena French | 1369 | — |
| LMArena German | 1280 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1213 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1233 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1257 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1321 | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 69.8 (#166), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1317 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.9 (#160), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1312 | — |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 48.5 (#198), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1324 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1254 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1280 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1327 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better than Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 39.3 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 17× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Step 5 Preview?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.16 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.
Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.6 versus 39.6 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks do Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Step 5 Preview share?
0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has 18 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 3.