Model comparison
Nova 2 Lite vs Step 3.5 Flash
Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
StepFunSummary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Nova 2 Lite scores higher in 2 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 6 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Nova 2 Lite leads 27.5 to 22.2.
- Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $2.50 for Nova 2 Lite.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 256K.
- Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Amazon | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 39.7 | 42.3 |
| Released | 2025-12-01 | 2026-01-29 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1M | 256K |
| Max output | 64K | 256K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.30 | $0.10 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.50 | $0.30 |
| Results tracked | 19 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 3.5 Flash leads
Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1385 | 1436 |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121), Step 3.5 Flash: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 27.1% | — |
Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118), Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1364 | 1411 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
Math Step 3.5 Flash leads
Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1359 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1358 | 1421 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.1% | — |
Multilingual Step 3.5 Flash leads
Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1337 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1364 | 1447 |
| LMArena French | 1381 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1343 | 1405 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1271 | 1354 |
| LMArena Korean | 1284 | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | 1343 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1373 | 1419 |
Instruction Following Step 3.5 Flash leads
Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1335 | 1385 |
Long Context Step 3.5 Flash leads
Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1335 | 1402 |
Writing & Preference Step 3.5 Flash leads
Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154), Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1362 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1291 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1338 | 1405 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Nova 2 Lite better than Step 3.5 Flash?
Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, Nova 2 Lite or Step 3.5 Flash?
Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.
Is Nova 2 Lite or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?
Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 40.7 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 256K.
How many benchmarks do Nova 2 Lite and Step 3.5 Flash share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Nova 2 Lite has 19 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.