Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) leads the LLM Stats Score 21.1 to 16.3. Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is 6.3x cheaper per token.
NVIDIA · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) leads the overall LLM Stats Score 21.1 to 16.3, ranking #188 overall.
In the 6 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) wins 5; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is roughly 6.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)
- overall performance matters — it scores 21.1 and ranks #188 on LLM Stats
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 5 of 6 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 6.3x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
Choose Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
- you want predictable pricing at $0.18/M input and $2.09/M output
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
15 reported for Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) · 50 for Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) outperforms in 5 benchmarks (AIME 2025, Arena-Hard v2, GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU-ProX).
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) ($0.06/1M tokens) is 3.0x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking ($0.18/1M tokens).
For output processing, Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) ($0.24/1M tokens) is 8.7x cheaper than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking ($2.09/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is more expensive than Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B).*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) has 23.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking, making it 255.6% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Both models have the same input context window of 262,144 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 262,144 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) does not.
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is licensed under NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement , while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) was released on 2025-12-15, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is 3 months newer than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking.
Dec 15, 2025
8 months ago
2mo newerSep 22, 2025
11 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-11-28, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)'s training data extends to 2025-11-28, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking's cutoff date.
Nov 2025
—
Provider Availability
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is available from DeepInfra. Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is available from DeepInfra.
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking.