Model comparison

DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Nova 2 Lite

DeepSeek-V3.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.2 to 39.0 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified October 10, 2026. 18 shared benchmarks.

DeepSeek-V3.1

DeepSeek

42.2

Rank #106 Confirmed

Nova 2 Lite Amazon

39.0

Rank #161 Confirmed

Summary

They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek-V3.1 scores higher in 6 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 2 categories; 5 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
The widest gap is in writing & preference, where DeepSeek-V3.1 leads 60.5 to 54.1.
DeepSeek-V3.1 is cheaper at $0.25 / $0.95 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 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

DeepSeek-V3.1 and Nova 2 Lite specifications
	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
Provider	DeepSeek	Amazon
Noometry Index	42.2	39.0
Released	2025-08-21	2025-12-01
Weights	Open	Proprietary
Context window	164K	1M
Max output	8K	64K
Input $ / M tokens	$0.25	$0.30
Output $ / M tokens	$0.95	$2.50
Results tracked	27	19

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Category by category

Coding Too close to call

DeepSeek-V3.1: 39.8 (#140), Nova 2 Lite: 40.1 (#131)

Coding benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
LMArena Coding	1417	1386
WeirdML	38.4%	—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

DeepSeek-V3.1: —, Nova 2 Lite: 23.9 (#114)

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard	—	27.1%

Reasoning Too close to call

DeepSeek-V3.1: 27.3 (#109), Nova 2 Lite: 26.4 (#120)

Reasoning benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
LMArena Hard Prompts	1417	1364
SimpleBench	40%	—
Kagi LLM Benchmark	53.2%	—
DTBench	82.7%	—
LMCA	24.3%	—
Epoch Capabilities Index	139.92	—
ForecastBench	58	—

Math DeepSeek-V3.1 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 36.1 (#125), Nova 2 Lite: 34.8 (#154)

Math benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
LMArena Math	1420	1359

Knowledge Too close to call

DeepSeek-V3.1: 43.0 (#86), Nova 2 Lite: 42.5 (#88)

Knowledge benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
Vectara Hallucination Rate	5.5%	5.1%
LMArena Expert	1403	1360

Multilingual DeepSeek-V3.1 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 51.8 (#100), Nova 2 Lite: 47.3 (#148)

Multilingual benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
LMArena Non-English	1400	1337
LMArena Chinese	1470	1364
LMArena French	1447	1381
LMArena German	1412	1343
LMArena Japanese	1374	1273
LMArena Korean	1337	1284
LMArena Russian	1405	1343
LMArena Spanish	1429	1372

Instruction Following DeepSeek-V3.1 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 74.1 (#105), Nova 2 Lite: 70.7 (#156)

Instruction Following benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
LMArena Instruction Following	1400	1335

Long Context Nova 2 Lite leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 36.3 (#227), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#145)

Long Context benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
LMArena Longer Query	1422	1335
Fiction.LiveBench	52.8%	—

Writing & Preference DeepSeek-V3.1 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 60.5 (#93), Nova 2 Lite: 54.1 (#150)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek-V3.1	Nova 2 Lite
LMArena Text	1420	1362
LMArena Creative Writing	1401	1291
LMArena Multi-Turn	1408	1338
EQ-Bench Creative Writing	1436	—

Frequently asked questions

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

DeepSeek-V3.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.2 to 39.0 on the Noometry Index.

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

DeepSeek-V3.1 is cheaper. It lists at $0.25 per million input tokens and $0.95 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.

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

They score almost the same on coding (39.8 vs 40.1); test both on your own repository before choosing.

Which has the bigger context window?

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

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

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek-V3.1 has 27 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.