Model comparison
Gemma 2 27B vs Nova 2 Lite
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 29.2 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 2 27B scores higher in 0 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Nova 2 Lite leads 34.8 to 10.0.
- Gemma 2 27B is cheaper at $0.65 / $0.65 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $2.50 for Nova 2 Lite.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 8K.
- Gemma 2 27B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Amazon | |
| Noometry Index | 29.2 | 39.0 |
| Released | 2024-06-24 | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 8K | 1M |
| Max output | 2K | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.65 | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.65 | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 34 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Nova 2 Lite leads
Gemma 2 27B: 33.5 (#243), Nova 2 Lite: 40.1 (#131)
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1211 | 1386 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 42.8% | — |
| LiveBench Coding | 36% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 52.5% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Gemma 2 27B: —, Nova 2 Lite: 23.9 (#114)
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads
Gemma 2 27B: 14.8 (#313), Nova 2 Lite: 26.4 (#120)
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1199 | 1364 |
| LiveBench Reasoning | 28.1% | — |
| DTBench | 48% | — |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | 47.9% | — |
| LMCA | 7.1% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 122.06 | — |
| LiveBench | 38.2% | — |
Math Nova 2 Lite leads
Gemma 2 27B: 10.0 (#306), Nova 2 Lite: 34.8 (#154)
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1212 | 1359 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 1.4% | — |
| LiveBench Math | 26.5% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 27.9% | — |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Gemma 2 27B: 18.9 (#275), Nova 2 Lite: 42.5 (#88)
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1172 | 1360 |
| GPQA Diamond | 36.5% | — |
| Confabulations | 27.1% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
| MMLU | 75.7% | — |
Multilingual Nova 2 Lite leads
Gemma 2 27B: 38.8 (#221), Nova 2 Lite: 47.3 (#148)
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1217 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1221 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1246 | 1381 |
| LMArena German | 1209 | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1175 | 1273 |
| LMArena Korean | 1174 | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | 1234 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1228 | 1372 |
Instruction Following Nova 2 Lite leads
Gemma 2 27B: 60.7 (#244), Nova 2 Lite: 70.7 (#156)
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1206 | 1335 |
| LiveBench Instruction Following | 58.1% | — |
Long Context Nova 2 Lite leads
Gemma 2 27B: 37.3 (#213), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#145)
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1231 | 1335 |
Writing & Preference Nova 2 Lite leads
Gemma 2 27B: 44.4 (#220), Nova 2 Lite: 54.1 (#150)
| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1231 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1241 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1224 | 1338 |
| LiveBench Language | 32.6% | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 2 27B better than Nova 2 Lite?
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 29.2 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 27B or Nova 2 Lite?
Gemma 2 27B is cheaper. It lists at $0.65 per million input tokens and $0.65 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.
Is Gemma 2 27B or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.1 versus 33.5 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 8K.
How many benchmarks do Gemma 2 27B and Nova 2 Lite share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 2 27B has 34 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.