AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL Open vs Saba Paid

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Saba 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
SabaPaidMistral AI
$0.2 /M input
$0.6 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window33K 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 Saba if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Saba specs

SpecNemotron 3.5 Super VLSabaWinner
MakerNVIDIAMistral AI–
TypeOpen-weightProprietaryNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Context window1M tokens33K tokensNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Input price$0.15/M · free self-host$0.2/MNemotron 3.5 Super VL
Output price$0.5/M · free self-host$0.6/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

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 Saba 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 VLSaba
Open weights (downloadable)✓✗
Self-hostable✓✗
Runs fully offline✓✗
Vision / multimodal✓✗
Tool / function calling✓✓
1M+ context window✓✗

Benchmarks: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Saba

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

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Saba
Intelligence index
26.5
6.5
Humanity's Last Exam
30.7%
4.3%
Long Context Reasoning
69%
–
SciCode
47.8%
–
GPQA
–
42.4%
MMLU-Pro
–
61.1%
MATH-500
–
67.7%
AIME
–
13%
Speed
428.9 tok/s
0 tok/s
Latency
0.57s
0s
Intelligence per $
84.7
–

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Nemotron 3.5 Super VL and Saba score

🏆 Best value & openness: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (5.0 vs 2.7 / 5)
CriterionNemotron 3.5 Super VLSaba
Cost-efficiency5.05.0
Context window5.02.5
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...

Saba Paid

Mistral AI · Proprietary

Mistral Saba is a 24B-parameter language model specifically designed for the Middle East and South Asia, delivering accurate and contextually relevant responses while maintaining efficient performance. Trained on curated regional...

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 Saba?

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but Saba 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. Saba is API-only and cannot be self-hosted.

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

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