Model Comparison

GPT-5.6 Luna vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2Which is better in 2026?

GPT-5.6 Luna significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: GPT-5.6 Luna vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2 — which is better?

GPT-5.6 Luna (by OpenAI) and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 (by NVIDIA) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

GPT-5.6 Luna outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is better at 0 benchmarks. GPT-5.6 Luna significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose GPT-5.6 Luna if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026

Choose Nemotron Nano 9B v2 if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

GPT-5.6 Luna outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is better at 0 benchmarks.

GPT-5.6 Luna significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only GPT-5.6 Luna specifies input context (1,050,000 tokens). Only GPT-5.6 Luna specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

OpenAI
GPT-5.6 Luna
Input1,050,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
NVIDIA
Nemotron Nano 9B v2
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

GPT-5.6 Luna supports multimodal inputs, whereas Nemotron Nano 9B v2 does not.

GPT-5.6 Luna can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

GPT-5.6 Luna

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nemotron Nano 9B v2

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

GPT-5.6 Luna is licensed under a proprietary license, 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.

GPT-5.6 Luna

Proprietary

Closed source

Nemotron Nano 9B v2

NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

GPT-5.6 Luna was released on 2026-07-09, while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 was released on 2025-08-18.

GPT-5.6 Luna is 11 months newer than Nemotron Nano 9B v2.

GPT-5.6 Luna

Jul 9, 2026

2 weeks ago

10mo newer
Nemotron Nano 9B v2

Aug 18, 2025

11 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

GPT-5.6 Luna has a knowledge cutoff of 2026-02-16, while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has a cutoff of 2024-09-01.

GPT-5.6 Luna has more recent training data (up to 2026-02-16), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Nemotron Nano 9B v2 (2024-09-01).

GPT-5.6 Luna

Feb 2026

1.4 yr newer
Nemotron Nano 9B v2

Sep 2024

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Key Takeaways

Larger context window (1,050,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (92.3% vs 64.0%)
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against GPT-5.6 Luna and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

GPT-5.6 Luna
✓ Preferred
Nemotron Nano 9B v2
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
OpenAI
GPT-5.6 Luna
NVIDIA
Nemotron Nano 9B v2

FAQ

Common questions about GPT-5.6 Luna vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2.

Which is better, GPT-5.6 Luna or Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

GPT-5.6 Luna significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. GPT-5.6 Luna is made by OpenAI and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does GPT-5.6 Luna compare to Nemotron Nano 9B v2 in benchmarks?

GPT-5.6 Luna scores Connectors: 99.9%, HealthBench Consensus: 95.1%, GPQA: 92.3%, Search and Function-Calling: 89.7%, Capture-the-Flag Challenges (Internal): 85.2%. Nemotron Nano 9B v2 scores MATH-500: 97.8%, IFEval: 90.3%, AIME 2025: 72.1%, LiveCodeBench: 71.1%, BFCL_v3_MultiTurn: 66.9%.

What are the context window sizes for GPT-5.6 Luna and Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

GPT-5.6 Luna supports 1.1M tokens and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between GPT-5.6 Luna and Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement ). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes GPT-5.6 Luna and Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

GPT-5.6 Luna is developed by OpenAI and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is developed by NVIDIA.