# Gemma 2 27B vs Nova 2 Lite

> Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 29.4 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-2-27b-vs-nova-2-lite
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 17

## Summary

- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 2 27B scores higher in 0 categories 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 10.7.
- Gemma 2 27B is cheaper at $0.65 / $0.65 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $2.50 for Nova 2 Lite.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 8K.
- Gemma 2 27B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 29.4 | 39.7 |
| Rank | 312 | 161 |
| Context | 8K | 1M |
| Input $/M | $0.65 | $0.30 |
| Output $/M | $0.65 | $2.50 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Gemma 2 27B: 34.1 (#246)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1211 | 1385 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 42.8% | — |
| LiveBench Coding | 36% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 52.5% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 2 27B: —
- Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 2 27B: 15.3 (#315)
- Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1198 | 1364 |
| LiveBench Reasoning | 28.1% | — |
| DTBench | 48% | — |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | 47.9% | — |
| LMCA | 7.1% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 122.08 | — |
| LiveBench | 38.2% | — |

## Math

- Gemma 2 27B: 10.7 (#311)
- Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1212 | 1359 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 1.4% | — |
| LiveBench Math | 26.5% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 27.9% | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 2 27B: 19.0 (#280)
- Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1172 | 1358 |
| GPQA Diamond | 36.5% | — |
| Confabulations | 27.1% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
| MMLU | 75.7% | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 2 27B: 38.6 (#226)
- Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1217 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1221 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1247 | 1381 |
| LMArena German | 1209 | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1175 | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | 1174 | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | 1234 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1228 | 1373 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 2 27B: 60.5 (#249)
- Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1206 | 1335 |
| LiveBench Instruction Following | 58.1% | — |

## Long Context

- Gemma 2 27B: 37.3 (#218)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1231 | 1335 |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 2 27B: 44.2 (#225)
- Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)

| Benchmark | Gemma 2 27B | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1231 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1241 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1224 | 1338 |
| LiveBench Language | 32.6% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 2 27B better than Nova 2 Lite?

Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 29.4 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 2 27B or Nova 2 Lite?

Gemma 2 27B is cheaper. It lists at $0.65 per million input tokens and $0.65 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.

### Is Gemma 2 27B or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?

Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.7 versus 34.1 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 8K.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 2 27B and Nova 2 Lite share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 2 27B has 34 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.