Nemotron 3 Ultra is $0.1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (16.7% lower; 1.2x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewNemotron 3 Ultra vs Kimi K2 Thinking
Pick Nemotron 3 Ultra when budget and context both matter.
Page updated:
Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Nemotron 3 Ultra when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nemotron 3 Ultra is estimated at $1.75 vs $1.85 for Kimi K2 Thinking, saving $0.1 (5.4% lower).
Cost-first pickNemotron 3 Ultra
Context-first pickNemotron 3 Ultra
Sample savings$0.15.4%
10x traffic gap$1
Nemotron 3 Ultra is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $1. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Nemotron 3 Ultra stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Kimi K2 Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Nemotron 3 Ultra | $3.75 | $4.25 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Nemotron 3 Ultra | $3 | $3.1 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Nemotron 3 Ultra | $13 | $13.1 |
Both models report the same output price at $2.5 per 1M tokens.
Nemotron 3 Ultra has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).
Nemotron 3 Ultra is $0.1 cheaper on the standard workload (5.4% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Nemotron 3 Ultra has the lower input price; both models tie on output price; Nemotron 3 Ultra offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Nemotron 3 Ultra is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $1.75 for Nemotron 3 Ultra and $1.85 for Kimi K2 Thinking.
Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra when you care most about lower input-token price, and larger context window.
Choose Kimi K2 Thinking when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nemotron 3 Ultra is estimated at $1.75 vs $1.85 for Kimi K2 Thinking, saving $0.1 (5.4% lower).
- Nemotron 3 Ultra is $0.1 cheaper on the standard workload (5.4% lower).
- Nemotron 3 Ultra is $0.1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (16.7% lower; 1.2x difference).
- Both models report the same output price at $2.5 per 1M tokens.
- Nemotron 3 Ultra has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).
| Feature | NewNemotron 3 Ultra (NVIDIA) | Kimi K2 Thinking (MoonshotAI) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.5 | $0.6 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $2.5 | $2.5 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $1.75 | $1.85 |
| Context Window | 1M | 262.14K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #91 | #145 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Nemotron 3 Ultra | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nemotron 3 Ultra is estimated at $1.75 vs $1.85 for Kimi K2 Thinking, saving $0.1 (5.4% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Tie | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Nemotron 3 Ultra | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Nemotron 3 Ultra (free) can replace Nemotron 3 Ultra when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Nemotron 3 Super (free) can replace Nemotron 3 Ultra when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B (free) can replace Nemotron 3 Ultra when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) can replace Nemotron 3 Ultra when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.25 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
- MiMo-V2.5 offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
- Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
- MiMo-V2.5 · Xiaomi · #3
- MiniMax M3 · MiniMax · #4
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
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Open largest context modelsProvider catalogs
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Open provider hubsNVIDIA catalog
Review all tracked NVIDIA models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.
Open NVIDIA modelsMoonshotAI catalog
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Open MoonshotAI modelsNVIDIA Nemotron 3 Ultra is an open frontier-reasoning and orchestration model from NVIDIA, with 55B active parameters out of 550B total (MoE). Built on a hybrid Transformer-Mamba mixture-of-experts architecture, it...
Kimi K2 Thinking is Moonshot AI’s most advanced open reasoning model to date, extending the K2 series into agentic, long-horizon reasoning. Built on the trillion-parameter Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture introduced in...