Model comparison
Nemotron 3 Ultra vs ZAYA1-8B
Head-to-head evidence from 5 shared benchmark results across 3 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Verified leaderboard positions: Nemotron 3 Ultra #24; ZAYA1-8B unranked
Evidence parity. Nemotron 3 Ultra and ZAYA1-8B share 5 comparable benchmark results. 2 of 8 categories are comparable. 34 results are unique to Nemotron 3 Ultra; 6 to ZAYA1-8B.
Updated July 16, 2026- Shared results
- 5
- Nemotron 3 Ultra only
- 34
- ZAYA1-8B only
- 6
- Comparable categories
- 2 / 8
Pick Nemotron 3 Ultra if you want the stronger benchmark profile. ZAYA1-8B only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 5 shared benchmark results across 3 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, 60 to 55. 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 instruction following, where it averages 81.7 against 64.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is IFBench, 81.7% to 52.6%. ZAYA1-8B does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
Nemotron 3 Ultra gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 131K for ZAYA1-8B.
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 | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Δ | ZAYA1-8B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | Nemotron 3 Ultra54.2 | Margin→ 19.4 | ZAYA1-8B73.6 |
| Inst. Following | Nemotron 3 Ultra81.7 | Margin← 17.6 | ZAYA1-8B64.1 |
| Agentic | Nemotron 3 Ultra51.3 | MarginNo overlap | ZAYA1-8BNot measured |
| Coding | Nemotron 3 Ultra58.3 | MarginNo overlap | ZAYA1-8BNot measured |
| Reasoning | Nemotron 3 Ultra61.9 | MarginNo overlap | ZAYA1-8BNot measured |
| Math | Nemotron 3 UltraNot measured | MarginNo overlap | ZAYA1-8B80.4 |
| Multilingual | Nemotron 3 Ultra83.0 | MarginNo overlap | ZAYA1-8BNot measured |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
IFBench
Inst. FollowingA 81.7%B 52.6%Winner: Nemotron 3 UltraΔ 29.1IFBench: Nemotron 3 Ultra scored 81.7%; ZAYA1-8B scored 52.6%. Nemotron 3 Ultra wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
GPQA
KnowledgeA 87%B 71%Winner: Nemotron 3 UltraΔ 16GPQA: Nemotron 3 Ultra scored 87%; ZAYA1-8B scored 71%. Nemotron 3 Ultra wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
MMLU-Pro
KnowledgeA 86.8%B 74.2%Winner: Nemotron 3 UltraΔ 12.6MMLU-Pro: Nemotron 3 Ultra scored 86.8%; ZAYA1-8B scored 74.2%. Nemotron 3 Ultra wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Nemotron 3 Ultra | ZAYA1-8B | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Nemotron 3 Ultra$0 input / $0 output | ZAYA1-8B$0 input / $0 output | Listed prices are equal. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Nemotron 3 UltraNot available | ZAYA1-8BNot available | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Nemotron 3 UltraNot available | ZAYA1-8BNot available | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Nemotron 3 Ultra1M | ZAYA1-8B131K | Nemotron 3 Ultra lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic13 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | ZAYA1-8B | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 56.4% | — | Not comparable |
| PinchBenchSource | 90.0% | — | Not comparable |
| BrowseCompSource | 44.4% | — | Not comparable |
| τ³-bench resultsSource | 70.9% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 33.2% | — | Not comparable |
| HLE w/ toolsSource | 37.4% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Agentic IndexSource | 27.4% | — | Not comparable |
| τ²-bench resultsSource | 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 |
| BFCL v4Source | — | 39.2% | Not comparable |
Coding8 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | ZAYA1-8B | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | 71.9% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE MultilingualSource | 67.7% | — | Not comparable |
| LiveCodeBench v6Source | 89.0% | 65.8% | Nemotron 3 Ultra leads |
| 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
KnowledgeZAYA1-8B wins12 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | ZAYA1-8B | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 87% | 71% | Nemotron 3 Ultra leads |
| GPQA-DSource | 87.0% | 71.0% | Nemotron 3 Ultra leads |
| HLESource | 26.7% | — | Not comparable |
| HLE w/o toolsSource | 26.7% | — | Not comparable |
| MMLU-ProSource | 86.8% | 74.2% | Nemotron 3 Ultra leads |
| 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 |
Math4 benchmarks
Multilingual1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | ZAYA1-8B | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-ProXSource | 83% | — | Not comparable |
Multimodal1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | ZAYA1-8B | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena WebsiteSource | 1132 | — | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (3)
Which is better, Nemotron 3 Ultra or ZAYA1-8B?
Nemotron 3 Ultra is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 60 to 55. The biggest single separator in this matchup is IFBench, where the scores are 81.7% and 52.6%.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, Nemotron 3 Ultra or ZAYA1-8B?
ZAYA1-8B has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 73.6 versus 54.2. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for instruction following, Nemotron 3 Ultra or ZAYA1-8B?
Nemotron 3 Ultra has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 81.7 versus 64.1. Inside this category, IFBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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