Noometry

Model comparison

Llama 3.2 1B vs Nova 2 Lite

Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 20.1 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 1B costs 12× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nova 2 Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 14 shared benchmarks.

Llama 3.2 1B Meta

20.1

Rank #354 Confirmed

Nova 2 Lite Amazon

39.7

Rank #161 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 14 benchmarks with published results for both. Llama 3.2 1B scores higher in 0 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 9 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in knowledge, where Nova 2 Lite leads 43.0 to 7.2.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard: 10.8% for Llama 3.2 1B and 27.1% for Nova 2 Lite.
  • Llama 3.2 1B is cheaper at $0.027 / $0.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $2.50 for Nova 2 Lite.
  • Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 60K.
  • Llama 3.2 1B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Llama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
ProviderMetaAmazon
Noometry Index20.139.7
Released2024-09-242025-12-01
WeightsOpenProprietary
Context window60K1M
Max output54K64K
Input $ / M tokens$0.027$0.30
Output $ / M tokens$0.20$2.50
Results tracked2219

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Category by category

Coding Nova 2 Lite leads

Llama 3.2 1B: 21.1 (#338), Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)

BenchmarkLlama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
LMArena Coding10701385
BigCodeBench Instruct8.2%—
BigCodeBench Complete11.3%—

Agentic & Tool Use Nova 2 Lite leads

Llama 3.2 1B: 14.6 (#150), Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)

BenchmarkLlama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard10.8%27.1%
BALROG6.6%—

Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads

Llama 3.2 1B: 16.2 (#308), Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)

BenchmarkLlama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
LMArena Hard Prompts10441364
Chess Puzzles0%—
Epoch Capabilities Index101.99—

Math Nova 2 Lite leads

Llama 3.2 1B: 10.4 (#313), Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)

BenchmarkLlama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
LMArena Math10861359
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-20250.6%—

Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads

Llama 3.2 1B: 7.2 (#312), Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)

BenchmarkLlama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
LMArena Expert10071358
GPQA Diamond23.9%—
Vectara Hallucination Rate—5.1%

Multilingual Nova 2 Lite leads

Llama 3.2 1B: 23.8 (#292), Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)

BenchmarkLlama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
LMArena Non-English9731337
LMArena Chinese9591364
LMArena German10141343
LMArena Russian9411343
LMArena French—1381
LMArena Japanese—1271
LMArena Korean—1284
LMArena Spanish—1373

Instruction Following Nova 2 Lite leads

Llama 3.2 1B: 52.4 (#290), Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)

BenchmarkLlama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
LMArena Instruction Following10311335

Long Context Nova 2 Lite leads

Llama 3.2 1B: 31.9 (#274), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)

BenchmarkLlama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
LMArena Longer Query10501335

Writing & Preference Nova 2 Lite leads

Llama 3.2 1B: 21.3 (#310), Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)

BenchmarkLlama 3.2 1BNova 2 Lite
LMArena Text10551362
LMArena Creative Writing10331291
LMArena Multi-Turn10301338
EQ-Bench Creative Writing200—

Frequently asked questions

Is Llama 3.2 1B better than Nova 2 Lite?

Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 20.1 on the Noometry Index. Llama 3.2 1B costs 12× 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 3.2 1B or Nova 2 Lite?

Llama 3.2 1B is cheaper. It lists at $0.027 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.

Is Llama 3.2 1B or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?

Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.7 versus 21.1 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 60K.

How many benchmarks do Llama 3.2 1B and Nova 2 Lite share?

14 benchmarks have published results for both models. Llama 3.2 1B has 22 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.

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