Model comparison
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct vs Nova 2 Lite
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 31.6 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 12 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 3.0 8b Instruct scores higher in 0 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Nova 2 Lite leads 53.9 to 31.1.
- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 31.6 | 39.7 |
| Released | — | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | — | 1M |
| Max output | — | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 14 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 29.7 (#301), Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1112 | 1385 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 29.3% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 35.4% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: —, Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 20.9 (#230), Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1092 | 1364 |
Math Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 32.8 (#210), Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1143 | 1359 |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 29.6 (#236), Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1087 | 1358 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
Multilingual Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 27.2 (#276), Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1037 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1063 | 1364 |
| LMArena Russian | 1060 | 1343 |
| LMArena French | — | 1381 |
| LMArena German | — | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1284 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1373 |
Instruction Following Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 56.0 (#276), Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1088 | 1335 |
Long Context Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 34.0 (#252), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1122 | 1335 |
Writing & Preference Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 31.1 (#285), Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1096 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1071 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1063 | 1338 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 3.0 8b Instruct better than Nova 2 Lite?
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 31.6 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 3.0 8b Instruct or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.7 versus 29.7 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Granite 3.0 8b Instruct and Nova 2 Lite share?
12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.0 8b Instruct has 14 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.