# LFM3-1.7B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (slim)

> Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B scores 64.7 (B) to LFM3-1.7B'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/lfm3-1-7b-vs-nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b.md (~10,100 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lfm3-1-7b-vs-nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lfm3-1-7b-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
- 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 64.7 (B) on agent readiness against LFM3-1.7B's 61 (C), and leads in 2 of 4 scored categories. LFM3-1.7B leads on agent interface. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- LFM3-1.7B: C 61, rank #69 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lfm3-1-7b.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
- LFM3-1.7B, good for Agents on a laptop, phone or small server that need tool calling and a long context from a model under 2 GB at 4 bits Ahead on Agent interface, 100 against 90.
- 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 Risk, 75 against 40; Documentation and upkeep, 75 against 67.

| Category | LFM3-1.7B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 85 | 85 |
| Risk (20%) | 40 | 75 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 100 | 90 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 67 | 75 |

| Fact (where they differ) | LFM3-1.7B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Liquid AI | NVIDIA |
| Licence | LFM Open License v1.0 (free commercial use below $10M annual revenue) | OpenMDW-1.1 |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-11-09 | 2026-08-11 |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Risk, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B +35: LFM3-1.7B 40 (File safety 15, safetensors only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files (25).); 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.)
- Agent interface, LFM3-1.7B +10: LFM3-1.7B 100 (Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository (12,129 characters), with roles, tools, deferred tools, tool results and the thinking switch.); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 90 (The chat template earns 20, a Jinja file in the repository.)
- Documentation and upkeep, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B +8: LFM3-1.7B 67 (Model card 17, Intended use (local agents, tool calling, structured outputs, fine-tuning), a limitation (not recommended for agentic coding or complex multi-ste…); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 75 (The model card earns 20, all seven items with limitations in the linked subcard.)