Compare / MiniCPM-SALA vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2
MiniCPM-SALA vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2
Updated November 2026
Verdict
MiniCPM-SALA and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 are roughly tied on the Small LM Index (52.6 vs 52.5). On the 2 benchmarks both labs report, MiniCPM-SALA wins 1 and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 wins 1. Both need about 6.7 GB of memory at 4-bit quantization. Neither model has a hosted API on OpenRouter, so you would run both yourself.
Pick MiniCPM-SALA if…
- you need math and reasoning
- you work with long documents
- you need a permissive license (Apache-2.0)
Pick Nemotron Nano 9B v2 if…
- you mostly write code
- you want the more widely used model (more quantized builds and community support)
Specifications
| MiniCPM-SALA | Nemotron Nano 9B v2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Small LM Index | 52.6 (likely 48–57) | 52.5 (likely 48–57) |
| Lab | OpenBMB (MiniCPM) · China | NVIDIA · United States |
| Released | 2026-02-11 | 2025-08-18 |
| Parameters | 9.5B (dense) | 8.9B (dense) |
| Memory at 4-bit | ~6.7 GB | ~6.2 GB |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 128K tokens |
| Input | text | text |
| Reasoning | Hybrid (thinking on/off) | Hybrid (thinking on/off) |
| License | Apache-2.0 | NVIDIA Open Model |
| API price / 1M tokens | Self-host only | Self-host only |
| Hugging Face downloads (30 days) | 3.7K | 141.1K |
Benchmarks
Higher is better. Bold marks the winner where both labs report a score. ≈ marks the index model's estimate for a score that wasn't reported, ✓ an independent measurement and * a score measured by another lab.
| Benchmark | MiniCPM-SALA | Nemotron Nano 9B v2 |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro Knowledge | 67.0 | ≈ 74 |
| GPQA Diamond Knowledge | ≈ 66 | 64.0 |
| AIME Math | 78.3 | 72.1 |
| LiveCodeBench Coding | 52.0 | 71.1 |
| IFEval Instruction following | 76.3 | — |
Scores are mostly reported by each lab with its own settings, so small gaps are noise. See the methodology. Open in the interactive comparison to add more models.
Questions
Which is better, MiniCPM-SALA or Nemotron Nano 9B v2?
MiniCPM-SALA and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 are roughly tied on the Small LM Index (52.6 vs 52.5). On the 2 benchmarks both labs report, MiniCPM-SALA wins 1 and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 wins 1.
Which is cheaper to run?
Neither model has a hosted API on OpenRouter, so you would run both yourself. Both need about 6.7 GB of memory at 4-bit quantization.
Which has the longer context window?
MiniCPM-SALA has the longer context window: 1M tokens against 128K.
Can I use MiniCPM-SALA and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 commercially?
MiniCPM-SALA is released under Apache-2.0 and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 under NVIDIA Open Model. Apache 2.0 and MIT allow commercial use; other licenses can add conditions, so read the license before shipping a product.