Falcon 180B vs Nemotron 3 Ultra
Falcon 180B (2023) and Nemotron 3 Ultra (2026) are frontier reasoning models from Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and NVIDIA AI. Falcon 180B ships a not-yet-sourced context window, while Nemotron 3 Ultra ships a 1m-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.
Nemotron 3 Ultra is safer overall; choose Falcon 180B when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Falcon 180B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | provider-routed production | reasoning-heavy apps and long-context analysis |
| Decision fit | Classification | Long context |
| Context window | — | 1m |
| Cheapest output | - | $2.20/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 2 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Falcon 180B has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Falcon 180B for Classification.
- Nemotron 3 Ultra has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Nemotron 3 Ultra uniquely exposes Reasoning in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Nemotron 3 Ultra for Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Falcon 180B
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Nemotron 3 Ultra
$950
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Falcon 180B and Nemotron 3 Ultra; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Nemotron 3 Ultra adds Reasoning in local capability data.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Nemotron 3 Ultra and Falcon 180B; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Check replacement coverage for Reasoning before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2023-11-28 | 2026-06-04 |
| Context window | — | 1m |
| Parameters | 180B | 550B |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Mixture of Experts |
| License | Apache 2.0OSI-approved | NVIDIA Open Model |
| Openness | Open source | Open weights |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: permitted | Commercial use: permitted |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Falcon 180B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | - | $0.50/1M tokens |
| Output price | - | $2.20/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Falcon 180B | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Function calling | No | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | No | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on reasoning mode: Nemotron 3 Ultra. Both models share the core language-model surface, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
Pricing coverage is uneven: Falcon 180B has no token price sourced yet and Nemotron 3 Ultra has $0.50/1M input tokens. Provider availability is 2 tracked routes versus 1. Treat unknown pricing as an integration gap, then verify the route you will actually call before estimating production spend.
Choose Falcon 180B when provider fit and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra when reasoning depth are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions. It also helps separate model capability from provider packaging, which can change cost and latency. For teams standardizing a stack, that distinction is often the difference between a benchmark win and a reliable deployment.
FAQ
Is Falcon 180B or Nemotron 3 Ultra open source?
Falcon 180B is listed under Apache 2.0. Nemotron 3 Ultra is listed under NVIDIA Open Model. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for reasoning mode, Falcon 180B or Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Nemotron 3 Ultra has the clearer documented reasoning mode signal in this comparison. If reasoning mode is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Falcon 180B and Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Falcon 180B is available on Alibaba Cloud PAI-EAS and Scale AI GenAI Platform. Nemotron 3 Ultra is available on OpenRouter. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick Falcon 180B over Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Nemotron 3 Ultra is safer overall; choose Falcon 180B when provider fit matters. If your workload also depends on provider fit, start with Falcon 180B; if it depends on reasoning depth, run the same evaluation with Nemotron 3 Ultra.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-06-15. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.