NVIDIA's fast text specialist against inclusionAI's cheap multimodal tool user.
These two are the budget speed options, but they buy speed differently. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is a small, sparse text model that wakes just 3B parameters per token. Ling 3.0 Flash VL is a larger multimodal model with 5.5B active, and it costs less.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has 30B parameters, a 262k window, a $0.25 price, and no image or tool support. Ling 3.0 Flash VL has 124B parameters, a 131k window, a $0.18 price, and reads pictures and video while supporting tools. Both offer zero retention.
At a glance
| Spec | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | Ling 3.0 Flash VL |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | NVIDIA | inclusionAI |
| Parameters | 30B | 124B |
| Active per token | 3B | 5.5B |
| Context window | 262k (200,000 words) | 131k (100,000 words) |
| Upstream price / MTok | $0.25 | $0.18 |
| Image and video input | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Zero data retention | Yes | Yes |
| License | NVIDIA Open Model License | Apache 2.0 |
| Good at | Fast, high-volume work | Very cheap picture and video reading |
Where Nemotron 3.5 Lightning pulls ahead
- Raw text speed: 3B active parameters make it one of the lightest models in the catalog for high-volume text work.
- A larger context than Ling at 262k tokens versus 131k, which matters for long text-only inputs.
- Simplicity: no tool calls or images to reason about when all you need is fast text output.
Where Ling 3.0 Flash VL pulls ahead
- Capabilities: Ling reads images and video and supports tool calling; Nemotron supports neither.
- Price: $0.18 versus $0.25 per million tokens, about 28% cheaper.
- A larger total model (124B versus 30B) with only 5.5B active, so it remains inexpensive to run.
The price difference
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs $0.25 per million tokens against $0.18 for Ling 3.0 Flash VL — about 39% more. On UsingOpen you can chat with both for free inside the daily limit, so the rate is a fair proxy for how expensive each model is to run rather than a bill you pay here. Multiply it by your monthly token volume if you are comparing API access elsewhere.
Which should you choose?
Ling 3.0 Flash VL is the better all-round budget model. It is cheaper, sees pictures and video, and can call tools. For most people that combination is more useful than a slightly faster text-only model.
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning still has a place: pure text throughput, a longer 262k window, and no need for tools or vision. If you are batching plain text and want the lightest possible model per token, it is a clean choice.
Chat with Nemotron 3.5 Lightning free · Chat with Ling 3.0 Flash VL free
Frequently asked questions
Which has the larger context window, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Ling 3.0 Flash VL?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is listed at 262k (200,000 words); Ling 3.0 Flash VL is listed at 131k (100,000 words). Nemotron 3.5 Lightning can hold more in one conversation, which matters for long codebases, archives and multi-hour agent runs.
Which of Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Ling 3.0 Flash VL can read images?
Ling 3.0 Flash VL accepts image input; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is text-only. If a screenshot, diagram or video frame is part of the task, only Ling 3.0 Flash VL can handle it.
Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Ling 3.0 Flash VL better for coding?
Neither is positioned as a coding specialist: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is tuned for fast, high-volume work and Ling 3.0 Flash VL for very cheap picture and video reading. For serious coding work, start with a model such as DeepSeek V4 Flash or GLM 5.3 Flash instead.
Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning or Ling 3.0 Flash VL?
Ling 3.0 Flash VL is listed at $0.18 per million tokens against $0.25 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning — about 28% cheaper. Both are free to chat with on UsingOpen inside the daily limit when live; the rates matter if you are comparing what API access would cost.
Can I chat with Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and Ling 3.0 Flash VL for free?
Yes. Both are selectable on UsingOpen without an account when they are live, and each user gets 10 free prompts per day. A model paused for capacity is unavailable until it returns; the picker shows live status. History stays on your device, and Compare mode can send one prompt to both models side by side.
Why does Nemotron 3.5 Lightning not support tools or images?
It is designed as a fast text specialist, and the catalog lists no tool or image support for this release. If you need either capability in the NVIDIA family, look at Nemotron 3 Ultra, which supports tools but still not images.
Which is better for video?
Ling 3.0 Flash VL. It accepts video and images and is the only one of the two with any visual input. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is text-only, so it cannot inspect a frame at all.
Related comparisons
- Qwen3.8 Flash vs Gemma 4 26B — Two fast multimodal models, one with a million-token window and one with zero-retention terms.
- Qwen3.8 27B vs Gemma 4 31B — A careful Qwen against Google's budget writer and image reader.
- MiniMax M3 vs Qwen3.8 Flash — MiniMax's video-and-agent model against Qwen's faster, cheaper all-rounder.