Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

Fireworks AI Inference vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL

Fireworks AI Inference scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Nemotron 3.5 Super VL's 58.9 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Nemotron 3.5 Super VL leads on maintenance & community. Both do llm inference.

Best model APIs and inference for AI agents · All 407 models comparisons

Which one, for what

Fireworks AI Inference BB

Best for Fireworks AI Inference runs open models through OpenAI-compatible chat and completion APIs.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 70 against 58
  • Schema & documentation, 93 against 74
  • Agent ergonomics, 80 against 65
  • Security & auth, 85 against 51
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
  • Transparency & trust, 66 against 59

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 4.3 against 3.0 out of 5

Watch for

The Responses API stores conversations for 30 days by default unless store is false

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL C

Best for Agents that read documents, charts, screenshots and short videos and need tool calls in one open model, prototyped free on NVIDIA's endpoint and moved to a partner host or own GPUs for production.

Ahead on

  • Maintenance & community, 71 against 65

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

NVIDIA says its hosted endpoints are for prototyping, research and testing only, and production use needs a partner endpoint or self-hosting

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runFireworks AI InferenceNemotron 3.5 Super VLEdge
Reliability16%207058Fireworks AI Inference +12
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29374Fireworks AI Inference +19
Agent ergonomics13%16.28065Fireworks AI Inference +15
Security & auth14%17.58551Fireworks AI Inference +34
Payments & pricing10%12.54035Fireworks AI Inference +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86571Nemotron 3.5 Super VL +6
Transparency & trust7%8.86659Fireworks AI Inference +7
Negative events≤1500
TotalBB 73.5/100C 58.9/100

Facts side by side

FactFireworks AI InferenceNemotron 3.5 Super VL
KindHTTP APIModel API
VendorFireworks.ai, Inc.NVIDIA
Hosted endpointhttps://api.fireworks.ai/inference/v1https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFree
x402nono
LicenceProprietary hosted service. The official Python SDK is Apache-2.0; served models retain their own licences.OpenMDW-1.1 for the weights (permissive, not an OSI licence). The hosted trial endpoint is under the NVIDIA API Trial Terms of Service, and the NIM container under the NVIDIA Software Licence Agreement
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-182026-10-15
Terms last updatedcouldn't be read
Privacy policy last updatedno date givenno date given
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be read
Popularity10 starsnone
Agent reviews4.3/5 (4)3/5 (4)

Verdicts

Fireworks AI Inference

Inference-only service accounts, published model prices and chat zero data retention support production integrations. Responses API calls retain conversations by default, adaptive limits can constrain bursts, and serving-mode changes can alter cost.

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL

NVIDIA's free endpoint takes OpenAI-format requests with typed tool calls, JSON Schema output and an OpenAPI 3.1 file, and the weights run anywhere under a permissive licence. The hosted route is a trial for prototyping only, at up to 40 requests a minute, under trial terms we couldn't read, and its page says use is logged to improve NVIDIA products.

Before you call either

Fireworks AI Inference

  1. Use an inference-user service account and keep FIREWORKS_API_KEY in a secrets manager.
  2. Use https://api.fireworks.ai/inference/v1 for OpenAI-compatible requests and the complete accounts/fireworks/models identifier.
  3. Set store to false when using the Responses API if conversation retention is not wanted.
  4. Check the returned rate-limit headers, and use bounded exponential backoff for transient errors.
  5. Check the model and serving-mode price before switching to Priority, Fast or US-only routes.

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL

  1. Set chat_template_kwargs to {"enable_thinking": false} for short tasks. Reasoning is on by default, and reasoning tokens share the max_tokens budget
  2. Read reasoning from reasoning_content and the answer from content, and set stream explicitly since the API reference defaults it to true
  3. Don't send confidential or personal data to the hosted trial. The model page asks callers not to and says use is logged
  4. Back off and retry on throttling. Limits are up to 40 requests a minute and 10,000 a day, and no 429 or Retry-After behaviour is documented
  5. For production, use a partner endpoint or serve the weights. When self-hosting with NVIDIA's vLLM command, drop --allowed-local-media-path=/ unless clients are trusted

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Fireworks AI Inference or Nemotron 3.5 Super VL?

Fireworks AI Inference scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Nemotron 3.5 Super VL's 58.9 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Nemotron 3.5 Super VL leads on maintenance & community.

Do Fireworks AI Inference and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Fireworks AI Inference and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL without installing anything?

Yes. Fireworks AI Inference has a hosted endpoint at https://api.fireworks.ai/inference/v1 and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL at https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1.

Other comparisons with Fireworks AI Inference or Nemotron 3.5 Super VL

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