Nemotron or Llama: which to choose for agents
Both are in Ollama and both run on a CPU in their smaller sizes, and the catalog claims Russian support for neither. Nemotron is built for agents and reasoning and tuned to run fast on NVIDIA GPUs: Nemotron 3 is a Mamba and MoE hybrid from 4B to 550B-A55B, and Nano Omni handles video, audio and images, though in English only. Nemotron licensing varies by version: the NVIDIA Open Model License and Open Model Agreement come with conditions, Llama-based versions add the Llama terms, and Ultra and 3.5 Lightning ship under OpenMDW-1.1. Llama is simpler here: one Llama Community License across the family, sizes from 1B and a huge pool of existing fine-tunes, but its newest catalog release is April 2025 against August 2026 for Nemotron.
Comparison based on catalog data
| Parameter | NVIDIA Nemotron | Llama |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Text, Image + text, Voice assistants | Text, Image + text |
| Developer | NVIDIA, USA | Meta, USA |
| Releases | Jun 2024 – Aug 2026 | Feb 2023 – Apr 2025 |
| Sizes | 4B – 550B-A55B | 1B – 405B |
| Hardware | Laptop, 1 GPU, Cluster | Laptop, 1 GPU, Cluster |
| Commercial use | Commercial use with conditions | Commercial use with conditions |
| License | Nemotron-4, Llama-Nemotron, Nemotron 3 Nano, Nano Omni, Cascade 2 and Super: NVIDIA Open Model License / Open Model Agreement (commercial use allowed with conditions; Llama-based versions add Llama terms); Nemotron 3 Ultra and 3.5 Lightning: OpenMDW-1.1 | Llama Community License |
| Russian | Not supported | Not supported |
| Ollama | Yes | Yes |
| Without GPU | Yes | Yes |
| Tasks |
|
|
Choose NVIDIA Nemotron if
- You run your own cluster on NVIDIA GPUs
- You need tool-calling agents and reasoning or calculation tasks
- You need video and audio in one model: Nemotron 3 Nano Omni
Choose Llama if
- You want one clear license across the whole line-up
- You rely on the Llama ecosystem of fine-tunes and tooling
- The model is a base for industry-specific fine-tuning
Other comparisons
- Qwen or Llama: which to choose for business
- Gemma or Llama: which to choose for business
- Mistral or Llama: which to choose for business
- Llama or DeepSeek: which to run inside your own perimeter
- Cohere Command or Llama: which to choose for a knowledge base
- Qwen or GigaChat: which to choose for business
- GigaChat or YandexGPT: which to choose for business
- DeepSeek or Qwen: which to choose for business
- gpt-oss or Qwen: which one to run on your own server
- Mistral or Qwen: which to choose for business
- Gemma or Phi: small models for modest hardware
- YandexGPT or Qwen: which to choose for Russian
Need a model for your task?
An open model can run on your own server: data stays in-house, there is no per-request fee, and the model can be fine-tuned on your documents.
- SelectThe model and size for your task and hardware budget
- DeployOn your server or in a closed network, with an API
- Fine-tuneOn your data, or connect a knowledge base
- IntegrateInto your CRM, ERP, bot, website or team chat