Solar Mini 4 is $0.03 cheaper per 1M input tokens (37.5% lower; 1.6x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewSolar Mini 4 vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Pick Solar Mini 4 when budget and context both matter.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Solar Mini 4 when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Solar Mini 4 is estimated at $0.15 vs $0.18 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, saving $0.03 (16.7% lower).
Cost-first pickSolar Mini 4
Context-first pickSolar Mini 4
Sample savings$0.0316.7%
10x traffic gap$0.3
Solar Mini 4 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $0.3. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Solar Mini 4 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Solar Mini 4 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Solar Mini 4 | $0.35 | $0.5 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Solar Mini 4 | $0.25 | $0.28 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Solar Mini 4 | $1.05 | $1.08 |
Both models report the same output price at $0.2 per 1M tokens.
Solar Mini 4 has 262.14K more context (2x larger).
Solar Mini 4 is $0.03 cheaper on the standard workload (16.7% 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
Solar Mini 4 has the lower input price; both models tie on output price; Solar Mini 4 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Solar Mini 4 is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.15 for Solar Mini 4 and $0.18 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning.
Choose Solar Mini 4 when you care most about lower input-token price, and larger context window.
Choose Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 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, Solar Mini 4 is estimated at $0.15 vs $0.18 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, saving $0.03 (16.7% lower).
- Solar Mini 4 is $0.03 cheaper on the standard workload (16.7% lower).
- Solar Mini 4 is $0.03 cheaper per 1M input tokens (37.5% lower; 1.6x difference).
- Both models report the same output price at $0.2 per 1M tokens.
- Solar Mini 4 has 262.14K more context (2x larger).
| Feature | NewSolar Mini 4 (Upstage) | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (NVIDIA) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.05 | $0.08 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0.2 | $0.2 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.15 | $0.18 |
| Context Window | 524.29K | 262.14K |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Solar Mini 4 | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Solar Mini 4 is estimated at $0.15 vs $0.18 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, saving $0.03 (16.7% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Solar Mini 4 | 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 | Solar Mini 4 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Nemotron 3 Ultra (free) can replace Nemotron 3.5 Lightning when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) can replace Nemotron 3.5 Lightning when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free) can replace Nemotron 3.5 Lightning when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) can replace Nemotron 3.5 Lightning when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- GLM Flash Latest offers 1.31M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
- GPT-6 Luna Pro (batch) offers 1.05M context with $0.17 sample workload cost.
- GPT-6 Luna (batch) offers 1.05M context with $0.17 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
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Cheaper alternatives
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Open Upstage modelsNVIDIA catalog
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Open NVIDIA modelsSolar Mini 4 is Upstage's compact, cost-efficient language model, a 35B-parameter mixture-of-experts with 3B active parameters and a 524K context window. It is built for agentic use cases where response...
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is an open mixture-of-experts model from NVIDIA, with 3B active parameters out of 30B total. It is suited for high-throughput agentic workloads and specialized tasks that...