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Llama 3.2 3B Instruct vs Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) leads the LLM Stats Score 29.9 to -6.4.

Meta · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) leads the overall LLM Stats Score 29.9 to -6.4, ranking #142 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) wins 1; 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 Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.01/M input and $0.02/M output

Choose Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

  • overall performance matters — it scores 29.9 and ranks #142 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
Meta
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
NVIDIA
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
-6.4
#384
29.9
#142
Reasoning
-7.0
#378
29.2
#143
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
$0.01 / M
— / M
Output price
$0.02 / M
— / M
Context window
128,000
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Math
-3.7#325
23.6#135
Tool use
4.7#175
5.6#168
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

15 reported for Llama 3.2 3B Instruct · 10 for Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

1 shared

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Oct 19 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

70.8B diff

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) has 70.8B more parameters than Llama 3.2 3B Instruct, making it 2205.3% larger.

Meta
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
3.2Bparameters
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
74.0Bparameters
3.2B
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
74.0B
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Llama 3.2 3B Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Meta
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mon Oct 19 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.2 3B Instruct does not.

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.2 Community License, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) uses OpenMDW License v1.1.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

Llama 3.2 Community License

Open weights

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

OpenMDW License v1.1

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct was released on 2024-09-25, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) was released on 2026-10-15.

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is 25 months newer than Llama 3.2 3B Instruct.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

Sep 25, 2024

2.1 years ago

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Oct 15, 2026

4 days ago

2.1yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-05-01, while Llama 3.2 3B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)'s training data extends to 2026-05-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Llama 3.2 3B Instruct's cutoff date.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct

—

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

May 2026

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Llama 3.2 3B Instruct and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Llama 3.2 3B Instruct vs Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB).

Which is better, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct or Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) leads the LLM Stats Score 29.9 to -6.4. Llama 3.2 3B Instruct is made by Meta and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Llama 3.2 3B Instruct compare to Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) in benchmarks?

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct scores NIH/Multi-needle: 84.7%, ARC-C: 78.6%, GSM8k: 77.7%, IFEval: 77.4%, HellaSwag: 69.8%. Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) scores PinchBench: 87.8%, GPQA: 86.4%, BrowseComp: 66.8%, AA-LCR: 64.1%, MCP Atlas: 52.2%.

What are the context window sizes for Llama 3.2 3B Instruct and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct supports 128K tokens and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) 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 Llama 3.2 3B Instruct and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (-6.4 vs 29.9), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Llama 3.2 Community License vs OpenMDW License v1.1). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Llama 3.2 3B Instruct and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Llama 3.2 3B Instruct is developed by Meta and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is developed by NVIDIA.

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