Model comparison
Grok 4.3 vs Nova 2 Lite
Grok 4.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 1.8× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Grok 4.3 scores higher in 9 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Grok 4.3 leads 52.5 to 43.0.
- Nova 2 Lite is cheaper at $0.30 / $2.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1.25 / $2.50 for Grok 4.3.
Side by side
| Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 43.8 | 39.7 |
| Released | 2026-04-17 | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Max output | 30K | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $1.25 | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.50 | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 40 | 19 |
Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry
Category by category
Coding Too close to call
Grok 4.3: 41.6 (#121), Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1415 | 1385 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1357 | — |
| SciCode | 47.3% | — |
| WeirdML | 49.9% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 944.17 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 27.7 (#99), Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
| GDP.pdf | 8% | — |
| LMArena Search | 1165 | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 35.26 | — |
Reasoning Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 35.9 (#68), Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1396 | 1364 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 55.2% | — |
| CritPt | 8% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 25% | — |
| DTBench | 90.7% | — |
| LMCA | 38.3% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 149.16 | — |
| ForecastBench | 60.3 | — |
Math Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 46.0 (#74), Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1388 | 1359 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 42.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 14.6% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 93.3% | — |
| ProofBench | 11% | — |
Knowledge Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 52.5 (#62), Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1385 | 1358 |
| GPQA Diamond | 88.8% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 33.2% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
Multimodal Not comparable
Grok 4.3: 31.6 (#104), Nova 2 Lite: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1229 | — |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | 0% | — |
Multilingual Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 50.5 (#120), Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1385 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1422 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1412 | 1381 |
| LMArena German | 1395 | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1379 | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | 1356 | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | 1399 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1398 | 1373 |
Instruction Following Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 72.1 (#140), Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1366 | 1335 |
Long Context Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 42.5 (#123), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1393 | 1335 |
Writing & Preference Grok 4.3 leads
Grok 4.3: 58.5 (#118), Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1397 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1380 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1406 | 1338 |
| EQ-Bench 4 | 1075 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Grok 4.3 better than Nova 2 Lite?
Grok 4.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 1.8× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.3 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; Grok 4.3 lists at $1.25 and $2.50.
Is Grok 4.3 or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
They score almost the same on coding (41.6 vs 40.7); test both on your own repository before choosing.
Which has the bigger context window?
Both accept 1M tokens.
How many benchmarks do Grok 4.3 and Nova 2 Lite share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Grok 4.3 has 40 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.