Noometry

Model comparison

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus vs Nova 2 Lite

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 10 shared benchmarks.

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus DeepSeek

43.1

Rank #97 Confirmed

Nova 2 Lite Amazon

39.7

Rank #161 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 10 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus scores higher in 6 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 1 category; 6 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in writing & preference, where DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus leads 61.0 to 53.9.
  • DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus is cheaper at $0.27 / $1 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $2.50 for Nova 2 Lite.
  • Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 164K.
  • DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

DeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
ProviderDeepSeekAmazon
Noometry Index43.139.7
Released2025-09-222025-12-01
WeightsOpenProprietary
Context window164K1M
Max output147K64K
Input $ / M tokens$0.27$0.30
Output $ / M tokens$1$2.50
Results tracked1619

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Category by category

Coding DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 42.0 (#113), Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)

BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
LMArena Coding14261385
SciCode40.6%—
ALE-Bench745.17—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: —, Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)

BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard—27.1%

Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 26.4 (#133), Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)

BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
LMArena Hard Prompts14261364
Kagi LLM Benchmark57.4%—
CritPt1.7%—
DTBench81.3%—
LMCA28.6%—

Math Too close to call

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 38.5 (#137), Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)

BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
LMArena Math14021359

Knowledge Not comparable

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: —, Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)

BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
Vectara Hallucination Rate—5.1%
LMArena Expert—1358

Multilingual DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 52.1 (#92), Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)

BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
LMArena Non-English14071337
LMArena Russian14361343
LMArena Chinese—1364
LMArena French—1381
LMArena German—1343
LMArena Japanese—1271
LMArena Korean—1284
LMArena Spanish—1373

Instruction Following DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 74.0 (#106), Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)

BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
LMArena Instruction Following14041335

Long Context DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 43.4 (#97), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)

BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
LMArena Longer Query14211335

Writing & Preference DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 61.0 (#92), Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)

BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusNova 2 Lite
LMArena Text14191362
LMArena Creative Writing14031291
LMArena Multi-Turn14111338

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus better than Nova 2 Lite?

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.1 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus or Nova 2 Lite?

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus is cheaper. It lists at $0.27 per million input tokens and $1 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.

Is DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.0 versus 40.7 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 164K.

How many benchmarks do DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus and Nova 2 Lite share?

10 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus has 16 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.

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