Model comparison
GPT-5.3 Codex vs Nova 2 Lite
GPT-5.3 Codex is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.8 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 5.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GPT-5.3 Codex's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 0 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- The widest gap is in agentic & tool use, where GPT-5.3 Codex leads 48.0 to 24.1.
- Nova 2 Lite is cheaper at $0.30 / $2.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1.75 / $14 for GPT-5.3 Codex.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 400K.
Side by side
| GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 45.8 | 39.7 |
| Released | 2026-02-05 | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 400K | 1M |
| Max output | 128K | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $1.75 | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $14 | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 8 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding GPT-5.3 Codex leads
GPT-5.3 Codex: 48.6 (#56), Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 74.8% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1409 | — |
| WeirdML | 79.3% | — |
| LMArena Coding | — | 1385 |
| ALE-Bench | 1,655 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use GPT-5.3 Codex leads
GPT-5.3 Codex: 48.0 (#9), Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 78.4% | — |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
| METR Time Horizons | 74.5% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 5,940 | — |
Reasoning Not comparable
GPT-5.3 Codex: —, Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | — | 1364 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 156.77 | — |
Math Not comparable
GPT-5.3 Codex: —, Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1359 |
Knowledge Not comparable
GPT-5.3 Codex: —, Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
| LMArena Expert | — | 1358 |
Multilingual Not comparable
GPT-5.3 Codex: —, Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | — | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1364 |
| LMArena French | — | 1381 |
| LMArena German | — | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | — | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1373 |
Instruction Following Not comparable
GPT-5.3 Codex: —, Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | — | 1335 |
Long Context Not comparable
GPT-5.3 Codex: —, Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | — | 1335 |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
GPT-5.3 Codex: —, Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.3 Codex | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | — | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | — | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | — | 1338 |
Frequently asked questions
Is GPT-5.3 Codex better than Nova 2 Lite?
GPT-5.3 Codex is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.8 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 5.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GPT-5.3 Codex's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.3 Codex 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; GPT-5.3 Codex lists at $1.75 and $14.
Is GPT-5.3 Codex or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
GPT-5.3 Codex scores higher on coding benchmarks: 48.6 versus 40.7 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 400K.
How many benchmarks do GPT-5.3 Codex and Nova 2 Lite share?
0 benchmarks have published results for both models. GPT-5.3 Codex has 8 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.