Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B
Benchmarks, API Token Pricing, Context Window & Speed Comparison
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Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B by NVIDIA and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B by NVIDIA represent two of the frontier AI models analyzed in our comprehensive 2026 AI benchmark and LLM comparison. In this head-to-head evaluation, we examine API token pricing, context window specifications, inference speed (tokens per second), and empirical reasoning performance. From a pure economic perspective, both models offer identical input token rates. On output generation, costs are matched. In data-heavy architectures requiring extensive repository or document analysis, Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B provides an expanded memory horizon with 262K tokens. In latency-sensitive production environments, Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B leads in tokens-per-second throughput, making it ideal for real-time conversational agents and high-concurrency workflows. Below is the complete empirical head-to-head breakdown across cost, speed, context, and capability matrices.
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Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B
Cascade ReasoningCascaded reasoning model combining speculative draft decoding with 3B active MoE routing for lightning-fast token output.
$0.10 / 1M
$0.25 / 1M
256K tokens
39.5%
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B
Small MoEUltra-efficient MoE routing 3B active parameters out of 30B, pairing massive 262K context with desktop-grade inference requirements.
$0.10 / 1M
$0.25 / 1M
262.1K tokens
38%
Key Differences at a Glance
- Both models cost the same under this workload — choose on capability, not price.
- Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B has a larger context window (262K vs 256K tokens).
- Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B is faster at 155 tok/s vs 130 tok/s.
- Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B leads on SWE-bench coding (39.5% vs 38.0%).
| Feature | Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B |
|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Composite reasoning & knowledge score (0-100) | 46 | 45 |
Provider | NVIDIA | NVIDIA |
Input Price Cost per million input tokens | $0.10 / 1M | $0.10 / 1M |
Output Price Cost per million output tokens | $0.25 / 1M | $0.25 / 1M |
Blended Price Weighted 7:2:1 cache:input:output per 1M | $0.06 / 1M | $0.06 / 1M |
Context Window Maximum input + output tokens | 256K tokens~384 A4 pages of text | 262.1K tokens~393 A4 pages of text |
Max Output Tokens Per single request | 16K | 16K |
Throughput Speed Tokens generated per second | 155 tok/s | 130 tok/s |
SWE-bench Verified Real-world software engineering | 39.5% | 38% |
GPQA Diamond Graduate-level reasoning | 55.2% | 54% |
Cached Input Price Prompt caching discount per 1M tokens | $0.02 / 1M | $0.02 / 1M |
Who Wins Where?
At-a-glance decision frameworkEmpirical Head-to-Head Benchmark Scores
Official evaluation metrics verified by independent third-party research labs.
Industry benchmark evaluating real-world GitHub issue resolution and multi-file debugging.
Challenging questions created by domain experts to test complex PhD-level reasoning.
Hardened reasoning and academic knowledge benchmark with reduced lucky-guess probability.
Crowdsourced human preference evaluation based on blind, head-to-head model battles.
Autonomous multi-step tasks executed inside a real command-line terminal environment.
American Invitational Mathematics Examination — multi-step Olympiad-level reasoning.
Accuracy when reasoning over very large inputs that fill the model context window.
Tokens emitted per second during active generation streaming.
Latency & Response Time
Time to first token (TTFT) and estimated end-to-end response time for a typical 500-token response.
Real-Time Interactive Token Cost Simulator
Adjust sliders to calculate projected monthly cloud API spending with prompt caching discounts.
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B · Strengths & Key Advantages
- Cascaded speculative architecture producing 155 tokens/sec generation speed
- 256K context window with seamless local deployment on single-card workstations
- Robust tool calling and dependable structured schema adherence
Considerations & Trade-offs
- Trails larger models on competitive programming challenges
- Text-only with no image modality
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B · Strengths & Key Advantages
- Only 3B active parameters during inference, achieving lightning-fast generation speed
- Massive 262K context window capable of ingesting whole codebases and legal documents
- Runs efficiently on commercial workstation GPUs with minimal VRAM utilization
Considerations & Trade-offs
- Trailing larger 120B MoE variants on competitive algorithmic code generation
- Text-only without native visual comprehension
Token Use & Task Economics
Estimated cost and token consumption to complete one representative agentic task.
| Metric | Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B |
|---|---|---|
Cost per Task Estimated USD to finish one task | $0.11 | $0.12 |
Output Tokens / Task Tokens generated per task | 28K | 28K |
Reasoning Tokens / Task Thinking tokens burned per task | 11K | 10K |
Technical Specifications
Architecture, release timeline, capabilities, and modalities.
| Feature | Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B | Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B |
|---|---|---|
| Official API Model ID (SDK) | nemotron-cascade-2-30b-a3b | nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b |
| API Protocol | OpenAI-Compatible REST / vLLM / SGLang / HuggingFace TGI | OpenAI-Compatible REST / vLLM / SGLang / HuggingFace TGI |
| Release Date | 2026-03 | 2025-12 |
| Knowledge Cutoff | January 2026 | October 2025 |
| Architecture | Cascaded Speculative MoE (30B Total / 3B Active) | Sparse Mixture-of-Experts (30B Total / 3B Active) |
| Parameters | 30B (3B active MoE) | 30B (3B active MoE) |
| Enterprise Rate Limits (RPM / TPM) | Unlimited (Hardware-bound on self-hosted GPU) / 10,000 RPM Cloud · Unlimited local throughput / 10M+ TPM Managed Cloud | Unlimited (Hardware-bound on self-hosted GPU) / 10,000 RPM Cloud · Unlimited local throughput / 10M+ TPM Managed Cloud |
| Long-Context Tier (>128K/200K) | Flat rate ($0.1/1M in) across full 256K window | Flat rate ($0.1/1M in) across full 262K window |
| Prompt Cache Policy & TTL | Cached input at $0.02/1M tokens | Cached input at $0.02/1M tokens |
| Computer Use / GUI Agent | API / CLI Tool-Use & DOM Agent ready (no raw pixel desktop click loop) | API / CLI Tool-Use & DOM Agent ready (no raw pixel desktop click loop) |
| MCP & Parallel Tool Calling | Native MCP Client/Server ready · Parallel function calling · 100% Strict JSON Schema | Native MCP Client/Server ready · Parallel function calling · 100% Strict JSON Schema |
| Web Search Grounding & Sandbox | Supported via external Tavily/Exa Search & E2B/Docker Sandbox tools | Supported via external Tavily/Exa Search & E2B/Docker Sandbox tools |
| Official Fine-Tuning Support | Full Weights SFT, LoRA, QLoRA, DPO & GRPO RL (Unsloth / Axolotl / Llama-Factory) | Full Weights SFT, LoRA, QLoRA, DPO & GRPO RL (Unsloth / Axolotl / Llama-Factory) |
| Multimodal Token Billing | Text BPE (~4 chars/token) | Text BPE (~4 chars/token) |
| Quantization & Min GPU VRAM | BF16 / FP16, FP8 Dynamic, INT4 AWQ / GPTQ, GGUF (Q4_K_M / Q8_0) · 19 GB VRAM (4-bit Quantized) · 65 GB VRAM (Native BF16) | BF16 / FP16, FP8 Dynamic, INT4 AWQ / GPTQ, GGUF (Q4_K_M / Q8_0) · 19 GB VRAM (4-bit Quantized) · 65 GB VRAM (Native BF16) |
| Safety & Frontier Classification | Open-Weights System Card + Customizable Guardrail Layer (Llama Guard / ShieldGemma) | Open-Weights System Card + Customizable Guardrail Layer (Llama Guard / ShieldGemma) |
| Enterprise Compliance (ZDR/HIPAA/SOC2) | 100% Air-Gapped On-Premises / Private VPC · Full HIPAA, GDPR & SOC2 Control | 100% Air-Gapped On-Premises / Private VPC · Full HIPAA, GDPR & SOC2 Control |
| Input Modalities | text | text |
| Output Modalities | text | text |
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B: Quick Answers
Which is more intelligent, Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B or Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B is more intelligent. It scores 46 compared with 45 on the composite Intelligence Index.
Which model is faster?
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B is faster, generating 155 tokens per second compared with 130 tokens per second.
Which model has lower latency?
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B has lower latency, with a time to first token of 0.27s compared with 0.32s.
Which model has a larger context window?
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B has a larger context window, supporting 262.1K tokens compared with 256K tokens.
Verdict
Verdict & Model Selection Recommendation: Choose Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B if your priority is Real-time conversational agents, instant coding autocomplete, and low-latency API services. Its performance in demanding tasks justifies its operational token cost. Choose Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B if your workflow prioritizes Local developer workstations, high-concurrency enterprise chatbots, and budget RAG pipelines. For large-scale batch processing or customer-facing conversational interfaces, its balance of speed and economics delivers superior ROI.
Frequently asked questions
How does Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B compare to Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B in API token pricing and cost per token?+
Both Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B share matched API token pricing at $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.25 per 1M output tokens. Because their token economics are identical, your selection should be guided by benchmark latency, memory horizon, and reasoning capabilities rather than operational token fees. Both models support prompt caching discounts of up to 90% for repeated prompt prefixes.
Which model has a larger context window: Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B or Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?+
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B supports a context window of 256K tokens (~192k words), while Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B supports 262K tokens (~197k words). Therefore, Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B can process more textual data and document context in a single prompt.
Which AI model is better for software engineering and coding: Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B or Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?+
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B scores 39.5% on SWE-bench Verified while Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B scores 38%. For autonomous software engineering and multi-file debugging, Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B holds the verified benchmark lead.
What is the difference in reasoning capability and extended thinking between Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?+
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B features native chain-of-thought extended thinking mode with configurable reasoning effort. In contrast, Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B provides chain-of-thought reasoning depth for complex math and science.
How does inference speed (tokens per second) compare between Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B?+
Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B generates approximately 155 tokens per second, while Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B delivers 130 tokens per second. In latency-sensitive production environments, Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B provides faster time-to-first-token (TTFT) and higher streaming response velocity.
Can you implement a tiered LLM routing setup combining Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B and Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B to optimize costs?+
Yes! Tiered multi-model routing can optimize for latency and accuracy: you can route high-frequency conversational turns and latency-sensitive queries to Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B, and route deep architectural or complex reasoning queries to Nemotron Cascade 2 30B A3B. This balanced routing strategy maximizes system throughput and answer quality.
Understand key metrics like context window, token pricing, reasoning mode, and SWE-bench scores in our comprehensive AI glossary.
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Benchmark scores, token prices, and rate limits evolve rapidly as AI labs release model updates. Always verify current specifications and pricing on the official provider documentation.
Sources: GetInfoUs Independent AI Benchmarks & Official API Specs