AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL Open vs AIAion 3.5 Mini Paid

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Aion 3.5 Mini compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Can the open-source model replace the paid one? Full 2026 breakdown.

Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai

Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.

Nemotron 3.5 Super VLOpenNVIDIA
$0.15 /M input
$0.5 /M outputNo per-token fees if you self-host
TypeOpen-weight
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostYes
AIAion 3.5 MiniPaidAionLabs
$0.7 /M input
$1.4 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window262K tokens
MultimodalNo
Self-hostNo
Choose Nemotron 3.5 Super VL if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Aion 3.5 Mini if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Aion 3.5 Mini specs

SpecNemotron 3.5 Super VLAion 3.5 MiniWinner
MakerNVIDIAAionLabs–
TypeOpen-weightProprietaryNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Context window1M tokens262K tokensNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Input price$0.15/M · free self-host$0.7/MNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Output price$0.5/M · free self-host$1.4/MNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Vision / multimodalYesNoNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Tool / function callingYesYes= Tie
Self-hostableYesNo (API only)Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
LicenseNVIDIA Open ModelProprietaryNemotron 3.5 Super VL

Price gap & when to choose each

2.8×cheaper per output token

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is ~2.8× cheaper than Aion 3.5 Mini on output tokens ($0.5 vs $1.4 per M tokens).

Choose Nemotron 3.5 Super VL if…
  • You want to self-host or run on your cloud
  • You need the longer 1M context window
  • You prioritize data privacy & control
  • You want the lowest operating costs
  • You are building open or reproducible AI
AIChoose Aion 3.5 Mini if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilityNemotron 3.5 Super VLAion 3.5 Mini
Open weights (downloadable)✓✗
Self-hostable✓✗
Runs fully offline✓✗
Vision / multimodal✓✗
Tool / function calling✓✓
1M+ context window✓✗

Benchmarks: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Aion 3.5 Mini

Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Aion 3.5 Mini
Intelligence index
26.5
–
Humanity's Last Exam
30.7%
–
Long Context Reasoning
69%
–
SciCode
47.8%
–
Speed
428.9 tok/s
–
Latency
0.57s
–
Intelligence per $
84.7
–

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Nemotron 3.5 Super VL and Aion 3.5 Mini score

🏆 Best value & openness: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (5.0 vs 2.9 / 5)
CriterionNemotron 3.5 Super VLAion 3.5 Mini
Cost-efficiency5.04.5
Context window5.04.0
Openness5.01.5
Self-hosting5.01.0
Multimodality5.03.5

Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.

What each model is

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL Open

NVIDIA · Open-weight

NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is an open multimodal mixture-of-experts model from NVIDIA, with 12B active parameters out of 120B total. It takes text, images, documents, GUI screenshots, and video...

Aion 3.5 Mini Paid

AionLabs · Proprietary

Aion 3.5 Mini is a multi-model roleplaying and storytelling system from AionLabs, built on the GLM family of models. It is the smaller, lower-cost sibling of Aion 3.5 and uses...

Other models in these families

These variants are tracked but not compared here — one page per family keeps the comparison readable.

Other variants tracked
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (free)Nemotron 3 UltraNemotron 3 Ultra (free)Nemotron 3.5 LightningNemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)Nemotron 3 SuperNemotron 3 Super (free)Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3BNemotron 3.5 Content SafetyNemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free)

Frequently asked questions

Is Nemotron 3.5 Super VL as good as Aion 3.5 Mini?

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but Aion 3.5 Mini may still lead on the hardest reasoning and agentic work. The gap keeps narrowing — benchmark both on your actual use case before deciding.

Can I run Nemotron 3.5 Super VL locally?

Yes. Nemotron 3.5 Super VL has open weights, so you can self-host it on your own GPUs or run it via a low-cost API. Aion 3.5 Mini is API-only and cannot be self-hosted.

How much cheaper is Nemotron 3.5 Super VL?

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL costs $0.5/M output vs $1.4/M for Aion 3.5 Mini — roughly 3x cheaper via API, and free if you self-host.

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Aion 3.5 Mini — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Nemotron 3.5 Super VL if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Aion 3.5 Mini if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

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