Model comparison
Nova 2 Lite vs Qwen Max
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 34.7 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Nova 2 Lite scores higher in 8 categories and Qwen Max in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Nova 2 Lite leads 37.5 to 22.3.
- Nova 2 Lite is cheaper at $0.30 / $2.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1.60 / $6.40 for Qwen Max.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 33K.
Side by side
| Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Amazon | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 39.7 | 34.7 |
| Released | 2025-12-01 | 2024-04-03 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1M | 33K |
| Max output | 64K | 8K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.30 | $1.60 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.50 | $6.40 |
| Results tracked | 19 | 23 |
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Category by category
Coding Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134), Qwen Max: 30.7 (#292)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1385 | 1288 |
| Aider Polyglot | — | 21.8% |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121), Qwen Max: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 27.1% | — |
Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118), Qwen Max: 25.1 (#151)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1364 | 1269 |
Math Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156), Qwen Max: 22.3 (#276)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1359 | 1275 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 16.1% |
| MATH Level 5 | — | 67.2% |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 1% |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94), Qwen Max: 30.3 (#228)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1358 | 1248 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 56.1% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.1% | — |
Multilingual Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153), Qwen Max: 41.8 (#202)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1337 | 1263 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1364 | 1254 |
| LMArena French | 1381 | 1330 |
| LMArena German | 1343 | 1254 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1271 | 1205 |
| LMArena Korean | 1284 | 1142 |
| LMArena Russian | 1343 | 1274 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1373 | 1290 |
Instruction Following Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161), Qwen Max: 66.5 (#208)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1335 | 1262 |
Long Context Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150), Qwen Max: 39.4 (#180)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1335 | 1288 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 66.7% |
Writing & Preference Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154), Qwen Max: 47.8 (#205)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1362 | 1282 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1291 | 1248 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1338 | 1277 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Nova 2 Lite better than Qwen Max?
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 34.7 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, Nova 2 Lite or Qwen Max?
Nova 2 Lite is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Qwen Max lists at $1.60 and $6.40.
Is Nova 2 Lite or Qwen Max better for coding?
Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.7 versus 30.7 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 33K.
How many benchmarks do Nova 2 Lite and Qwen Max share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Nova 2 Lite has 19 scored results on Noometry and Qwen Max has 23.