# Arete-27B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (slim)

> Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B scores 64.7 (B) to Arete-27B's 55.1 (C) for open-weight models you run yourself. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arete-27b-vs-nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b.md (~9,900 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arete-27b-vs-nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arete-27b-vs-nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-10
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Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B scores 64.7 (B) on agent readiness against Arete-27B's 55.1 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Arete-27B: C 55.1, rank #123 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/arete-27b.min.md
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: B 64.7, rank #20 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b.min.md
- Arete-27B, good for Agents that want Qwen3.8-27B's coding and tool use without its handling of politically sensitive topics, on a 24 GB card or a 128 GB machine
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B, good for Agents on one 24 to 32 GB GPU or Mac that want a fast tool-calling reasoning model with long context and a permissive licence Ahead on Reach, 85 against 50; Risk, 75 against 55; Agent interface, 90 against 60; Documentation and upkeep, 75 against 63.

| Category | Arete-27B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 50 | 85 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 75 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 60 | 90 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 63 | 75 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Arete-27B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Nous Research | NVIDIA |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | OpenMDW-1.1 |
| Last release | 2026-11-06 | 2026-08-11 |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Reach, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B +35: Arete-27B 50 (Memory 10, the only build from Nous Research is the 54.7 GB BF16 release, which needs about 66 GB and fits the reference machine.); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 85 (Memory earns 25, since ggml-org's 18.9 GB Q4_0 GGUF and Ollama's 19 GB nvfp4 build both need under 24 GB with the fifth added.)
- Agent interface, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B +30: Arete-27B 60 (Chat template 20, a Jinja file in the repository.); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 90 (The chat template earns 20, a Jinja file in the repository.)
- Risk, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B +20: Arete-27B 55 (File safety 25, safetensors only and no remote code.); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 75 (File safety earns 25, safetensors only with no Python files, and nothing from the repository runs to load it or parse its output.)
- Documentation and upkeep, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B +12: Arete-27B 63 (Model card 8, no limitations, context length, languages or cut-off.); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 75 (The model card earns 20, all seven items with limitations in the linked subcard.)