Model comparison
GLM-5 vs Nova 2 Lite
GLM-5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 46.1 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 1.8× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 18 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5 scores higher in 9 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where GLM-5 leads 66.0 to 53.9.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Vectara Hallucination Rate: 10.1% for GLM-5 and 5.1% for Nova 2 Lite.
- Nova 2 Lite is cheaper at $0.30 / $2.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $3.20 for GLM-5.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 205K.
- GLM-5 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Z.ai (Zhipu) | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 46.1 | 39.7 |
| Released | 2026-02-11 | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 205K | 1M |
| Max output | 131K | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $1 | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $3.20 | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 45 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding GLM-5 leads
GLM-5: 49.0 (#52), Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)
| Benchmark | GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1461 | 1385 |
| SWE-bench Verified | 72.1% | — |
| SWE-bench Verified (bash only) | 72.8% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1434 | — |
| SWE-bench Multilingual | 69.7% | — |
| WeirdML | 48.2% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 765.62 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use GLM-5 leads
GLM-5: 31.1 (#71), Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)
| Benchmark | GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 52.4% | — |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
| τ²-bench Airline | 82.5% | — |
| τ²-bench Banking | 9.8% | — |
| τ²-bench Retail | 73.7% | — |
| τ²-bench Telecom | 86.8% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 4,432 | — |
Reasoning Too close to call
GLM-5: 27.6 (#116), Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)
| Benchmark | GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1452 | 1364 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 4.9% | — |
| SimpleBench | 53.2% | — |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 75% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 74.8% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 44.7% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 10% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.83 | — |
| ForecastBench | 61 | — |
Math GLM-5 leads
GLM-5: 46.4 (#71), Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)
| Benchmark | GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1440 | 1359 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | 65.7% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 80% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 16.4% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1) | 2.1% | — |
Knowledge GLM-5 leads
GLM-5: 52.3 (#64), Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)
| Benchmark | GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 10.1% | 5.1% |
| LMArena Expert | 1454 | 1358 |
| GPQA Diamond | 87.8% | — |
Multilingual GLM-5 leads
GLM-5: 53.7 (#58), Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)
| Benchmark | GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1430 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1511 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1455 | 1381 |
| LMArena German | 1445 | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1416 | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | 1423 | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | 1436 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1454 | 1373 |
Instruction Following GLM-5 leads
GLM-5: 75.2 (#67), Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)
| Benchmark | GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1428 | 1335 |
Long Context GLM-5 leads
GLM-5: 44.7 (#60), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)
| Benchmark | GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1446 | 1335 |
| CL-bench | 18.7% | — |
Writing & Preference GLM-5 leads
GLM-5: 66.0 (#38), Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)
| Benchmark | GLM-5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1446 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1439 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1456 | 1338 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1601 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is GLM-5 better than Nova 2 Lite?
GLM-5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 46.1 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 1.8× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, GLM-5 or Nova 2 Lite?
Nova 2 Lite is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; GLM-5 lists at $1 and $3.20.
Is GLM-5 or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
GLM-5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 49.0 versus 40.7 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 205K.
How many benchmarks do GLM-5 and Nova 2 Lite share?
18 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5 has 45 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.