# Darwin-36B-Opus vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (slim)

> Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B scores 64.2 (B) to Darwin-36B-Opus's 61 (C) for open-weight models you run yourself. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/darwin-36b-opus-vs-nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b.md (~6,850 tokens) · this version ~480 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/darwin-36b-opus-vs-nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/darwin-36b-opus-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: 2026-10-21
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B scores 64.2 (B) on agent readiness against Darwin-36B-Opus's 61 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Darwin-36B-Opus: C 61, rank #37 of 100 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/darwin-36b-opus.min.md
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: B 64.2, rank #21 of 100 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b.min.md
- Darwin-36B-Opus, good for Reasoning-heavy text tasks on a 32 GB machine or a single 80 GB GPU, where a disclosed training method isn't required
- 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 80; Risk, 75 against 55; Agent interface, 90 against 70; Documentation and upkeep, 70 against 51. Also Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 2.5 out of 5.

| Category | Darwin-36B-Opus | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 80 | 85 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 75 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 70 | 90 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 51 | 70 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Darwin-36B-Opus | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | FINAL-Bench (VIDRAFT) | NVIDIA |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | OpenMDW-1.1 |
| Last release | 2026-04-23 | 2026-08-11 |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | 3/5 (4) |