Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) | Qwen3 235B A22B (Non-reasoning) |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $0.68 | $0.7 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $2.67 | $2.8 |
Verdict. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) wins the overall benchmark matchup 2–0 across 2 overlapping categories, but raw benchmark score is only one input to the decision.
Pricing. Both models sit in the budget bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.0× the per-million-token cost, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) is strongest on Coding Index (49.3), Intelligence Index (38.3). Qwen3 235B A22B (Non-reasoning) leads on Intelligence Index (10.8).
Speed. On throughput, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) generates tokens at 159 tok/s versus 63 tok/s — about 60% faster. On time-to-first-token, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) responds in 2720ms vs 2760ms, which matters most for chat-style UIs.
Provider. NVIDIA and Alibaba sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: NVIDIA tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while Alibaba often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.
Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) costs $60.45 ($725/year); Qwen3 235B A22B (Non-reasoning) costs $63.00 ($756/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) ≈ $8.74/run, Qwen3 235B A22B (Non-reasoning) ≈ $9.10/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) ≈ $403/run, Qwen3 235B A22B (Non-reasoning) ≈ $420/run. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) becomes more attractive at higher volume — the absolute per-token pricing difference compounds when you ship at scale.
Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.
Head-to-head deltas
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) is cheaper overall. Its blended price (3:1 input/output ratio) is $1.18/M tokens vs $1.23/M for Qwen3 235B A22B (Non-reasoning).
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) wins 2 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for Qwen3 235B A22B (Non-reasoning). See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) generates tokens faster at 159 tok/s vs 63 tok/s. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) also has lower time-to-first-token (2.72s vs 2.76s).
Choose based on your priorities: Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) for lower cost, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) for stronger benchmark performance, and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.