Model Comparison

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs o3-miniWhich is better in 2026?

o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs o3-mini — which is better?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 (by NVIDIA) and o3-mini (by OpenAI) 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 0 benchmarks, while o3-mini is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval). o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose o3-mini if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while o3-mini is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval).

o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Jul 29 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only o3-mini specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only o3-mini specifies output context (100,000 tokens).

NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
OpenAI
o3-mini
Input200,000 tokens
Output100,000 tokens
Wed Jul 29 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is licensed under Llama 3.1 Community License, while o3-mini uses a proprietary license.

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

o3-mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 was released on 2025-04-07, while o3-mini was released on 2025-01-30.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is 2 months newer than o3-mini.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Apr 7, 2025

1.3 years ago

2mo newer
o3-mini

Jan 30, 2025

1.5 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has a knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-01, while o3-mini has a cutoff of 2023-09-30.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has more recent training data (up to 2023-12-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to o3-mini (2023-09-30).

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Dec 2023

3 mo newer
o3-mini

Sep 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

NVIDIA
Has open weights
OpenAI
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Higher GPQA score (77.2% vs 76.0%)
Higher IFEval score (93.9% vs 89.5%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 and o3-mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
✓ Preferred
o3-mini
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
OpenAI
o3-mini

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 vs o3-mini.

Which is better, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 or o3-mini?

o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is made by NVIDIA and o3-mini is made by OpenAI. 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 o3-mini 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%. o3-mini scores COLLIE: 98.7%, MATH: 97.9%, IFEval: 93.9%, MGSM: 92.0%, AIME 2024: 87.3%.

What are the context window sizes for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 and o3-mini?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 supports an unknown number of tokens and o3-mini supports 200K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 and o3-mini?

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

Who makes Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 and o3-mini?

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is developed by NVIDIA and o3-mini is developed by OpenAI.

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