Model comparison
Llama 3.1-70B vs Nova 2 Lite
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 29.6 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.1-70B costs 2.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nova 2 Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
MetaSummary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Llama 3.1-70B scores higher in 1 category 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 37.5 to 13.5.
- Llama 3.1-70B is cheaper at $0.40 / $0.40 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $2.50 for Nova 2 Lite.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 128K.
- Llama 3.1-70B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meta | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 29.6 | 39.7 |
| Released | 2024-07-23 | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 128K | 1M |
| Max output | 4K | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.40 | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.40 | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 35 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Nova 2 Lite leads
Llama 3.1-70B: 30.3 (#296), Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1260 | 1385 |
| WeirdML | 9% | — |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 46.1% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 54.8% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Too close to call
Llama 3.1-70B: 25.1 (#112), Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
| TheAgentCompany | 6.9% | — |
| BALROG | 27.9% | — |
Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads
Llama 3.1-70B: 21.6 (#220), Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1241 | 1364 |
| DTBench | 60% | — |
| LMCA | 14.8% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 125.92 | — |
Math Nova 2 Lite leads
Llama 3.1-70B: 13.5 (#304), Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1252 | 1359 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 3.6% | — |
| Omni-MATH | 21% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 36.7% | — |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Llama 3.1-70B: 24.2 (#269), Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1209 | 1358 |
| GPQA Diamond | 44.2% | — |
| MMLU-Pro | 65.3% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
| GPQA (HELM) | 42.6% | — |
| MMLU | 80.1% | — |
Multilingual Nova 2 Lite leads
Llama 3.1-70B: 38.8 (#225), Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1219 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1215 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1261 | 1381 |
| LMArena German | 1222 | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1132 | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | 1140 | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | 1234 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1253 | 1373 |
Instruction Following Nova 2 Lite leads
Llama 3.1-70B: 65.3 (#223), Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1231 | 1335 |
| IFEval | 82.1% | — |
Long Context Nova 2 Lite leads
Llama 3.1-70B: 37.6 (#214), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1241 | 1335 |
Writing & Preference Nova 2 Lite leads
Llama 3.1-70B: 35.4 (#267), Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)
| Benchmark | Llama 3.1-70B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1261 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1232 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1256 | 1338 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 784 | — |
| WildBench | 75.8% | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Llama 3.1-70B better than Nova 2 Lite?
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 29.6 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.1-70B costs 2.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nova 2 Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Llama 3.1-70B or Nova 2 Lite?
Llama 3.1-70B is cheaper. It lists at $0.40 per million input tokens and $0.40 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.
Is Llama 3.1-70B or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.7 versus 30.3 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks do Llama 3.1-70B and Nova 2 Lite share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Llama 3.1-70B has 35 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.