DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2
DeepSeek R1 Zero and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 are closely matched at 16.1 and 18.5 on the LLM Stats Score.
DeepSeek · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Zero and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 16.1 and 18.5.
In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Nemotron Nano 9B v2 wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose DeepSeek R1 Zero
- you are already invested in the DeepSeek ecosystem
Choose Nemotron Nano 9B v2
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 3 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
4 reported for DeepSeek R1 Zero · 6 for Nemotron Nano 9B v2
DeepSeek R1 Zero outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is better at 2 benchmarks (LiveCodeBench, MATH-500).
Nemotron Nano 9B v2 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
DeepSeek R1 Zero has 662.1B more parameters than Nemotron Nano 9B v2, making it 7439.3% larger.
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek R1 Zero is licensed under MIT, while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 uses NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement .
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
DeepSeek R1 Zero was released on 2025-01-20, while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 was released on 2025-08-18.
Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is 7 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Zero.
Jan 20, 2025
1.6 years ago
Aug 18, 2025
1.1 years ago
7mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-09-01, while DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Nemotron Nano 9B v2's training data extends to 2024-09-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date.
—
Sep 2024
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against DeepSeek R1 Zero and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2.