Model Comparison

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2Which is better in 2026?

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Verdict: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2 — which is better?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 (by NVIDIA) 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.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA), while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is better at 3 benchmarks (IFEval, LiveCodeBench, MATH-500). Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Choose Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 if…

  • you are already invested in the NVIDIA ecosystem

Choose Nemotron Nano 9B v2 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA), while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is better at 3 benchmarks (IFEval, LiveCodeBench, MATH-500).

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Mon Jul 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

244.1B diff

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has 244.1B more parameters than Nemotron Nano 9B v2, making it 2742.7% larger.

NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
253.0Bparameters
NVIDIA
Nemotron Nano 9B v2
8.9Bparameters
253.0B
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
8.9B
Nemotron Nano 9B v2

License

Usage and distribution terms

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community 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.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Nemotron Nano 9B v2

NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 was released on 2025-04-07, while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 was released on 2025-08-18.

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is 4 months newer than Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Apr 7, 2025

1.3 years ago

Nemotron Nano 9B v2

Aug 18, 2025

11 months ago

4mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has a knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-01, while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has a cutoff of 2024-09-01.

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has more recent training data (up to 2024-09-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 (2023-12-01).

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Dec 2023

Nemotron Nano 9B v2

Sep 2024

9 mo newer

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

NVIDIA
Higher AIME 2025 score (72.5% vs 72.1%)
Higher GPQA score (76.0% vs 64.0%)
NVIDIA
Higher IFEval score (90.3% vs 89.5%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (71.1% vs 66.3%)
Higher MATH-500 score (97.8% vs 97.0%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
✓ Preferred
Nemotron Nano 9B v2
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
NVIDIA
Nemotron Nano 9B v2

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2.

Which is better, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 or Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is made by NVIDIA 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 Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 compare to Nemotron Nano 9B v2 in benchmarks?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 scores MATH-500: 97.0%, IFEval: 89.5%, GPQA: 76.0%, BFCL v2: 74.1%, AIME 2025: 72.5%. 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 main differences between Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 and Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

Key differences include licensing (Llama 3.1 Community License vs NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement ). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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