AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL Open vs Claude Opus 5.5 Paid

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Claude Opus 5.5 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
Claude Opus 5.5PaidAnthropic
$4 /M input
$20 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalYes
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 Claude Opus 5.5 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Claude Opus 5.5 specs

SpecNemotron 3.5 Super VLClaude Opus 5.5Winner
MakerNVIDIAAnthropic–
TypeOpen-weightProprietaryNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Context window1M tokens1M tokensNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Input price$0.15/M · free self-host$4/MNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Output price$0.5/M · free self-host$20/MNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Vision / multimodalYesYes= Tie
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

40×cheaper per output token

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is ~40× cheaper than Claude Opus 5.5 on output tokens ($0.5 vs $20 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
Choose Claude Opus 5.5 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 VLClaude Opus 5.5
Open weights (downloadable)✓✗
Self-hostable✓✗
Runs fully offline✓✗
Vision / multimodal✓✓
Tool / function calling✓✓
1M+ context window✓✓

Benchmarks: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Claude Opus 5.5

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

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL delivers 12× more intelligence per dollar.
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Claude Opus 5.5
Intelligence index
26.5
57.6
Humanity's Last Exam
30.7%
61.4%
Long Context Reasoning
69%
84.7%
SciCode
47.8%
66.9%
Speed
456.5 tok/s
96.6 tok/s
Latency
0.51s
466.45s
Intelligence per $
84.7
7.2

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Nemotron 3.5 Super VL and Claude Opus 5.5 score

🏆 Best value & openness: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (5.0 vs 3.1 / 5)
CriterionNemotron 3.5 Super VLClaude Opus 5.5
Cost-efficiency5.03.0
Context window5.05.0
Openness5.01.5
Self-hosting5.01.0
Multimodality5.05.0

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...

Claude Opus 5.5 Paid

Anthropic · Proprietary

Claude Opus 5.5 is Anthropic's flagship model for demanding reasoning, coding, and long-horizon agentic work, succeeding Claude Opus 5. It is particularly strong at multi-step changes in large codebases, code...

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 Nano Omni (free)Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3BNemotron 3.5 Content SafetyNemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free)
Other variants tracked
Claude Opus 5.5 (batch)Claude Opus 5Claude Opus 5 (batch)Claude Opus 4.8Claude Opus 4.8 (batch)Claude Opus 4.7Claude Opus 4.7 (batch)Claude Opus 4.6Claude Opus 4.6 (batch)Claude Opus 4.5Claude Opus 4.5 (batch)Claude Opus 4.1Claude Opus 4.1 (batch)

Frequently asked questions

Is Nemotron 3.5 Super VL as good as Claude Opus 5.5?

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but Claude Opus 5.5 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. Claude Opus 5.5 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 $20/M for Claude Opus 5.5 — roughly 40x cheaper via API, and free if you self-host.

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Claude Opus 5.5 — 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 Claude Opus 5.5 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

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