Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) vs Phi 4
| Signal | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) | Delta | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 50 | +17 | |
Pricing | 100 | +0 | |
Context window size | 95 | +28 | |
Recency | 100 | +80 | |
Output Capacity | 77 | +10 | |
Benchmarks | 0 | -65 | |
| Overall Result | 5 wins | of 6 | 1 wins |
Score History
40
current score
Phi 4
right now
60.2
current score
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)
NVIDIA
Phi 4
Microsoft
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) saves you $14.00/month
That's $168.00/year compared to Phi 4 at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) | Phi 4 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 40 | 60 | Phi 4 |
| Rank | #275 | #216 | Phi 4 |
| Quality Rank | #275 | #216 | Phi 4 |
| Adoption Rank | #275 | #216 | Phi 4 |
| Parameters | -- | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 1000K | 16K | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) |
| Pricing | Free | $0.07/$0.14/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 50 | 33 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) |
| Pricing | 100 | 100 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) |
| Context window size | 95 | 67 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) |
| Recency | 100 | 20 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) |
| Output Capacity | 77 | 67 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) |
| Benchmarks | -- | 65 | Phi 4 |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.
Scores 40/100 (rank #275), placing it in the top 6% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 60/100 (rank #216), placing it in the top 26% of all 290 models tracked.
Phi 4 has a 20-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably stronger performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.
Choose Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) when you need:
- High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
- Processing long documents or large codebases (1000K token context)
- Agentic applications using tool/function calling
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Choose Phi 4 when you need:
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Compare the cost per quality point to find the best value for your specific workload.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (1000K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.00/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (60/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Phi 4 clearly outperforms Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) with a significant 20.200000000000003-point lead. For most general use cases, Phi 4 is the stronger choice. However, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) may still excel in niche scenarios.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)
100% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by NVIDIA
- Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
- Choose for Cost - 100% lower pricing; better value at scale
- Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
- Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
- Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
| Capability | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input) | ||
| Function Callingdiffers | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Modediffers | ||
| Reasoningdiffers | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)
NVIDIA
Phi 4
Microsoft
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) saves you $0.2940/month
That's 100% cheaper than Phi 4 at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 1M | 16K |
| Max Output Tokens | 65,536 | 14,745 |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Created | Aug 11, 2026 | Jan 10, 2025 |