Model comparison
Nemotron 3 Ultra vs Step 3.5 Flash
Nemotron 3 Ultra and Step 3.5 Flash score almost the same on the Noometry Index (42.5 vs 42.3), so choose on price, context window or the category you care about most.
Last verified . 16 shared benchmarks.
NVIDIA
StepFunSummary
- They share 16 benchmarks with published results for both. Nemotron 3 Ultra scores higher in 6 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 2 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Nemotron 3 Ultra leads 52.5 to 39.6.
- Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $0.50 / $2.20 for Nemotron 3 Ultra.
- Nemotron 3 Ultra accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 256K.
Side by side
| Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | NVIDIA | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 42.5 | 42.3 |
| Released | 2026-06-04 | 2026-01-29 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 262K | 256K |
| Max output | 128K | 256K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.50 | $0.10 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.20 | $0.30 |
| Results tracked | 30 | 19 |
Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry
Category by category
Coding Step 3.5 Flash leads
Nemotron 3 Ultra: 38.1 (#182), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1468 | 1436 |
| FrontierCode | 13.6% | — |
| SciCode | 40.3% | — |
| WeirdML | 43.5% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Nemotron 3 Ultra: 23.4 (#126), Step 3.5 Flash: —
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 22.7% | — |
Reasoning Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Nemotron 3 Ultra: 31.0 (#82), Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1452 | 1411 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| CritPt | 3.1% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 12% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 20% | — |
| DTBench | 90.1% | — |
| LMCA | 36.9% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 146.17 | — |
Math Step 3.5 Flash leads
Nemotron 3 Ultra: 35.3 (#187), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1457 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 86.7% | — |
| ProofBench | 2% | — |
Knowledge Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Nemotron 3 Ultra: 52.5 (#61), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1472 | 1421 |
| GPQA Diamond | 85.4% | — |
Multilingual Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Nemotron 3 Ultra: 53.5 (#64), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1427 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1497 | 1447 |
| LMArena French | 1472 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1471 | 1405 |
| LMArena Korean | 1386 | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | 1417 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1454 | 1419 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1354 |
Instruction Following Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Nemotron 3 Ultra: 74.7 (#88), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1418 | 1385 |
Long Context Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Nemotron 3 Ultra: 43.9 (#81), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1437 | 1402 |
Writing & Preference Nemotron 3 Ultra leads
Nemotron 3 Ultra: 66.3 (#36), Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1445 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1398 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1411 | 1405 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1692 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Nemotron 3 Ultra better than Step 3.5 Flash?
Nemotron 3 Ultra and Step 3.5 Flash score almost the same on the Noometry Index (42.5 vs 42.3), so choose on price, context window or the category you care about most.
Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3 Ultra or Step 3.5 Flash?
Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Nemotron 3 Ultra lists at $0.50 and $2.20.
Is Nemotron 3 Ultra or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?
Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 38.1 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nemotron 3 Ultra does, with 262K tokens against 256K.
How many benchmarks do Nemotron 3 Ultra and Step 3.5 Flash share?
16 benchmarks have published results for both models. Nemotron 3 Ultra has 30 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.