AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

Nemotron 3 Ultra Open vs GPT-6 Luna (batch) Paid

Nemotron 3 Ultra vs GPT-6 Luna (batch) 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 UltraOpenNVIDIA
$0.5 /M input
$2.2 /M outputNo per-token fees if you self-host
TypeOpen-weight
Context window262K tokens
MultimodalNo
Self-hostYes
GPT-6 Luna (batch)PaidOpenAI
$0.05 /M input
$0.25 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window1.1M tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostNo
Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra 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 GPT-6 Luna (batch) if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

Nemotron 3 Ultra vs GPT-6 Luna (batch) specs

SpecNemotron 3 UltraGPT-6 Luna (batch)Winner
MakerNVIDIAOpenAI–
TypeOpen-weightProprietaryNemotron 3 Ultra
Context window262K tokens1.1M tokensGPT-6 Luna (batch)
Input price$0.5/M · free self-host$0.05/MGPT-6 Luna (batch)
Output price$2.2/M · free self-host$0.25/MGPT-6 Luna (batch)
Vision / multimodalNoYesGPT-6 Luna (batch)
Tool / function callingYesYes= Tie
Self-hostableYesNo (API only)Nemotron 3 Ultra
LicenseNVIDIA Open ModelProprietaryNemotron 3 Ultra

Price gap & when to choose each

8.8×cheaper per output token

GPT-6 Luna (batch) is ~8.8× cheaper than Nemotron 3 Ultra on output tokens ($0.25 vs $2.2 per M tokens).

Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra if…
  • You want to self-host or run on your cloud
  • You prioritize data privacy & control
  • You are building open or reproducible AI
Choose GPT-6 Luna (batch) if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You need the longer 1.1M context window
  • You want the lower output price
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilityNemotron 3 UltraGPT-6 Luna (batch)
Open weights (downloadable)✓✗
Self-hostable✓✗
Runs fully offline✓✗
Vision / multimodal✗✓
Tool / function calling✓✓
1M+ context window✗✓

Benchmarks: Nemotron 3 Ultra vs GPT-6 Luna (batch)

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

GPT-6 Luna (batch) delivers 8.9× more intelligence per dollar.
Nemotron 3 Ultra
GPT-6 Luna (batch)
Intelligence index
22.9
38.1
Coding index
49.3
–
GPQA
86.7%
–
Humanity's Last Exam
28.4%
38.5%
Long Context Reasoning
79.3%
83.3%
SciCode
40.3%
54.6%
IFBench
81.4%
–
τ²-Bench
83.3%
–
τ-Bench Banking
14.2%
–
Terminal-Bench
53.9%
–
Terminal-Bench Hard
36.4%
–
Speed
172.6 tok/s
139.3 tok/s
Latency
0.9s
81.41s
Intelligence per $
21.3
190.5

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Nemotron 3 Ultra and GPT-6 Luna (batch) score

🏆 Best value & openness: Nemotron 3 Ultra (4.4 vs 3.5 / 5)
CriterionNemotron 3 UltraGPT-6 Luna (batch)
Cost-efficiency4.55.0
Context window4.05.0
Openness5.01.5
Self-hosting5.01.0
Multimodality3.55.0

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 Ultra Open

NVIDIA · Open-weight

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Ultra is an open frontier-reasoning and orchestration model from NVIDIA, with 55B active parameters out of 550B total (MoE). Built on a hybrid Transformer-Mamba mixture-of-experts architecture, it...

GPT-6 Luna (batch) Paid

OpenAI · Proprietary

GPT-6 Luna is the fast, cost-efficient model in OpenAI's GPT-6 series, positioned below GPT-6 Sol. It is suited for high-volume and latency-sensitive workloads such as chat, classification, and lightweight agentic...

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 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 Ultra as good as GPT-6 Luna (batch)?

Nemotron 3 Ultra is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but GPT-6 Luna (batch) 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 Ultra locally?

Yes. Nemotron 3 Ultra has open weights, so you can self-host it on your own GPUs or run it via a low-cost API. GPT-6 Luna (batch) is API-only and cannot be self-hosted.

Nemotron 3 Ultra vs GPT-6 Luna (batch) — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra 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 GPT-6 Luna (batch) if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

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