Model Comparison

MAI-Thinking-1 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)Which is better in 2026?

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: MAI-Thinking-1 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) — which is better?

MAI-Thinking-1 (by Microsoft) and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) (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.

MAI-Thinking-1 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (SWE-Bench Verified), while Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is better at 6 benchmarks (GPQA, IFBench, LiveCodeBench v6, LongBench v2, MMLU-Pro, Multi-Challenge). Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose MAI-Thinking-1 if…

  • you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem

Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 6 of 7 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2026
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

7 benchmarks

MAI-Thinking-1 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (SWE-Bench Verified), while Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is better at 6 benchmarks (GPQA, IFBench, LiveCodeBench v6, LongBench v2, MMLU-Pro, Multi-Challenge).

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

450.0B diff

MAI-Thinking-1 has 450.0B more parameters than Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B), making it 81.8% larger.

Microsoft
MAI-Thinking-1
1.0Tparameters
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)
550.0Bparameters
1000.0B
MAI-Thinking-1
550.0B
Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

License

Usage and distribution terms

MAI-Thinking-1 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) uses OpenMDW License v1.1.

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

MAI-Thinking-1

Proprietary

Closed source

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

OpenMDW License v1.1

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

MAI-Thinking-1 was released on 2026-06-02, while Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) was released on 2026-06-04.

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is 0 month newer than MAI-Thinking-1.

MAI-Thinking-1

Jun 2, 2026

1 months ago

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

Jun 4, 2026

1 months ago

2d newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-09-30, while MAI-Thinking-1's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)'s training data extends to 2025-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without MAI-Thinking-1's cutoff date.

MAI-Thinking-1

—

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

Sep 2025

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Microsoft
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (73.5% vs 70.7%)
NVIDIA
Has open weights
Higher GPQA score (87.0% vs 84.2%)
Higher IFBench score (81.7% vs 69.0%)
Higher LiveCodeBench v6 score (89.0% vs 87.7%)
Higher LongBench v2 score (61.9% vs 61.0%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (86.8% vs 85.0%)
Higher Multi-Challenge score (63.8% vs 53.0%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against MAI-Thinking-1 and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

MAI-Thinking-1
✓ Preferred
Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Microsoft
MAI-Thinking-1
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

FAQ

Common questions about MAI-Thinking-1 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B).

Which is better, MAI-Thinking-1 or Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)?

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. MAI-Thinking-1 is made by Microsoft and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does MAI-Thinking-1 compare to Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) in benchmarks?

MAI-Thinking-1 scores LongFact: 98.0%, AIME 2025: 97.0%, AIME 2026: 94.5%, GraphWalks: 90.0%, AIR-Bench: 88.0%. Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) scores RULER: 94.7%, IMO-AnswerBench: 92.3%, PinchBench: 90.0%, LiveCodeBench v6: 89.0%, GPQA: 87.0%.

What are the main differences between MAI-Thinking-1 and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)?

Key differences include licensing (Proprietary vs OpenMDW License v1.1). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes MAI-Thinking-1 and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)?

MAI-Thinking-1 is developed by Microsoft and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is developed by NVIDIA.

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