LLM Perks

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Free right now Mid-size
ReasoningTool useLong contextOpen weights

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is a language model with 30B parameters from NVIDIA. It is currently free at 5 providers with up to 1M tokens of context. The model supports step-by-step reasoning, supports tool calling. Its weights are open, so it can also run locally.

Developer
NVIDIA
Parameters
30B / 3B active
Context
1M tokens
Type
Text
License
Open weights
Free since
September 19, 2026

Where to use Nemotron 3.5 Lightning for free

Each row is a separate free endpoint with its own limits.

ProviderContextLimitCard
OpenRouter
nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning:free
1M Free tier No Open
NVIDIA Build
nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b
— Free serverless inference for development; limits and model availability may change. No Open
Vercel AI Gateway
nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-free
1M A valid payment card must be on file even for zero-price models. Free promotions may change; availability is refreshed from the Models API. Yes Open
UnoRouter
nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b:free
262K No-card free models use shared capacity and per-model limits; availability can change. No Open
OpenCode Zen
nemotron-3.5-lightning-free
— Free models are available for a limited time; prompts may be used to improve the model. — Open

Quick start

curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENROUTER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning:free",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Example for OpenRouter. Any OpenAI-compatible client works: Cursor, Cline, OpenCode, Open WebUI.

Benchmarks

Intelligence Index
12.9
GPQA Diamond
74.3%
Humanity's Last Exam
10.6%
Long context (LCR)
60.3%

Source: Artificial Analysis · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

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FAQ

Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning free?

Yes. As of October 24, 2026, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is free at OpenRouter, NVIDIA Build, Vercel AI Gateway, UnoRouter, OpenCode Zen. Each provider has its own limits — see the table above.

What is the context window of Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

The largest context among free routes is 1,000,000 tokens. Some providers cap it lower.

How do I call Nemotron 3.5 Lightning via API?

Use any OpenAI-compatible client with base URL https://openrouter.ai/api/v1, model ID nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning:free, and a OpenRouter key.

How good is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 12.9, GPQA Diamond: 74%. For comparison, the strongest free model in the catalog right now is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash.

Is Nemotron 3.5 Lightning open-weight?

Yes, the weights are published — you can download and run it locally, for example with Ollama or LM Studio.