Model comparison
LFM2.5-230M vs Nemotron 3 Ultra
Head-to-head evidence from 4 shared benchmark results across 2 categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
Verified leaderboard positions: LFM2.5-230M unranked; Nemotron 3 Ultra #21
Evidence parity. LFM2.5-230M and Nemotron 3 Ultra share 4 comparable benchmark results. 2 of 8 categories are comparable. 2 results are unique to LFM2.5-230M; 36 to Nemotron 3 Ultra.
Updated July 14, 2026- Shared results
- 4
- LFM2.5-230M only
- 2
- Nemotron 3 Ultra only
- 36
- Comparable categories
- 2 / 8
Pick Nemotron 3 Ultra if you want the stronger benchmark profile. LFM2.5-230M only becomes the better choice if you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 4 shared benchmark results across 2 evidence categories; 2 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
Nemotron 3 Ultra is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 63 to 31. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Nemotron 3 Ultra's sharpest advantage is in knowledge, where it averages 54.2 against 21.2. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MMLU-Pro, 20.3% to 86.8%.
Nemotron 3 Ultra is the reasoning model in the pair, while LFM2.5-230M is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. Nemotron 3 Ultra gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 32K for LFM2.5-230M.
Category breakdown
Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.
| Category | LFM2.5-230M | Δ | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | LFM2.5-230M21.2 | Margin→ 33.0 | Nemotron 3 Ultra54.2 |
| Inst. Following | LFM2.5-230M50.1 | Margin→ 31.6 | Nemotron 3 Ultra81.7 |
| Agentic | LFM2.5-230MNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Nemotron 3 Ultra51.3 |
| Coding | LFM2.5-230MNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Nemotron 3 Ultra75.5 |
| Reasoning | LFM2.5-230MNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Nemotron 3 Ultra61.9 |
| Multilingual | LFM2.5-230MNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Nemotron 3 Ultra83.0 |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
MMLU-Pro
KnowledgeA 20.3%B 86.8%Winner: Nemotron 3 UltraΔ 66.6MMLU-Pro: LFM2.5-230M scored 20.3%; Nemotron 3 Ultra scored 86.8%. Nemotron 3 Ultra wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
GPQA
KnowledgeA 25.4%B 87%Winner: Nemotron 3 UltraΔ 61.6GPQA: LFM2.5-230M scored 25.4%; Nemotron 3 Ultra scored 87%. Nemotron 3 Ultra wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
IFBench
Inst. FollowingA 38.4%B 81.7%Winner: Nemotron 3 UltraΔ 43.3IFBench: LFM2.5-230M scored 38.4%; Nemotron 3 Ultra scored 81.7%. Nemotron 3 Ultra wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | LFM2.5-230M | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | LFM2.5-230M$0 input / $0 output | Nemotron 3 Ultra$0 input / $0 output | Listed prices are equal. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | LFM2.5-230MNot available | Nemotron 3 UltraNot available | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | LFM2.5-230MNot available | Nemotron 3 UltraNot available | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | LFM2.5-230M32K | Nemotron 3 Ultra1M | Nemotron 3 Ultra lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic14 benchmarks
| Benchmark | LFM2.5-230M | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| BFCL v4Source | 21.0% | — | Not comparable |
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | — | 56.4% | Not comparable |
| PinchBenchSource | — | 90.0% | Not comparable |
| BrowseCompSource | — | 44.4% | Not comparable |
| TAU3-BenchSource | — | 70.9% | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | — | 33.2% | Not comparable |
| HLE w/ toolsSource | — | 37.4% | Not comparable |
| AA Agentic IndexSource | — | 27.4% | Not comparable |
| Tau2-TelecomSource | — | 83.3% | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | — | 1164 | Not comparable |
| AA BriefcaseSource | — | 870 | Not comparable |
| AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource | — | 28.9% | Not comparable |
| AA Harvey LABSource | — | 3.3% | Not comparable |
| AA Tau3 BankingSource | — | 13.8% | Not comparable |
Coding8 benchmarks
| Benchmark | LFM2.5-230M | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | — | 71.9% | Not comparable |
| SWE MultilingualSource | — | 67.7% | Not comparable |
| LiveCodeBenchSource | — | 89% | Not comparable |
| SciCodeSource | — | 44.6% | Not comparable |
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | — | 56.4% | Not comparable |
| AA Coding IndexSource | — | 49.3% | Not comparable |
| Terminal-Bench HardSource | — | 36.4% | Not comparable |
| AA-SciCodeSource | — | 39.9% | Not comparable |
Reasoning3 benchmarks
KnowledgeNemotron 3 Ultra wins12 benchmarks
| Benchmark | LFM2.5-230M | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 25.4% | 87% | Nemotron 3 Ultra leads |
| GPQA-DSource | 25.4% | 87.0% | Nemotron 3 Ultra leads |
| MMLU-ProSource | 20.3% | 86.8% | Nemotron 3 Ultra leads |
| HLESource | — | 26.7% | Not comparable |
| HLE w/o toolsSource | — | 26.7% | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | — | 21.6% | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | — | 37.8% | Not comparable |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | — | 86.7% | Not comparable |
| AA-HLESource | — | 26.6% | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | — | -0.8% | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | — | 28.5% | Not comparable |
| AA Openness IndexSource | — | 83.3% | Not comparable |
Multilingual1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | LFM2.5-230M | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-ProXSource | — | 83% | Not comparable |
Multimodal1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | LFM2.5-230M | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena WebsiteSource | — | 1132 | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (3)
Which is better, LFM2.5-230M or Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Nemotron 3 Ultra is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 63 to 31. The biggest single separator in this matchup is MMLU-Pro, where the scores are 20.3% and 86.8%.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, LFM2.5-230M or Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Nemotron 3 Ultra has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 54.2 versus 21.2. Inside this category, MMLU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for instruction following, LFM2.5-230M or Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Nemotron 3 Ultra has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 81.7 versus 50.1. Inside this category, IFBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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