Model comparison
Nova 2 Lite vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 1.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 13 shared benchmarks.
StepFunSummary
- They share 13 benchmarks with published results for both. Nova 2 Lite scores higher in 1 category and Step 5 Preview in 7 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 40.0 to 27.5.
- Nova 2 Lite is cheaper at $0.30 / $2.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 1M.
Side by side
| Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Amazon | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 39.7 | 47.9 |
| Released | 2025-12-01 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1M | 1.02M |
| Max output | 64K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.30 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.50 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 19 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 5 Preview leads
Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134), Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1385 | 1480 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1564 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 27.1% | — |
Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads
Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118), Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1364 | 1465 |
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
Math Step 5 Preview leads
Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156), Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1359 | 1470 |
| ProofBench | — | 42% |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94), Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1358 | 1470 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.1% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: —, Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1267 |
Multilingual Step 5 Preview leads
Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153), Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1337 | 1432 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1364 | 1519 |
| LMArena Russian | 1343 | 1436 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1373 | 1439 |
| LMArena French | 1381 | — |
| LMArena German | 1343 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1271 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1284 | — |
Instruction Following Step 5 Preview leads
Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161), Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1335 | 1444 |
Long Context Step 5 Preview leads
Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150), Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1335 | 1455 |
Writing & Preference Step 5 Preview leads
Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154), Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1362 | 1442 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1291 | 1410 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1338 | 1447 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Nova 2 Lite better than Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 1.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Nova 2 Lite or Step 5 Preview?
Nova 2 Lite is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.
Is Nova 2 Lite or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.8 versus 40.7 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks do Nova 2 Lite and Step 5 Preview share?
13 benchmarks have published results for both models. Nova 2 Lite has 19 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.