# Gemma 4 26B A4B IT vs Nova 2 Lite

> Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.5 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it-vs-nova-2-lite
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 15

## Summary

- They share 15 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT scores higher in 6 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 2 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Gemma 4 26B A4B IT leads 47.6 to 37.5.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper at $0.09 / $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 262K.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Google | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 43.5 | 39.7 |
| Rank | 92 | 161 |
| Context | 262K | 1M |
| Input $/M | $0.09 | $0.30 |
| Output $/M | $0.30 | $2.50 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 39.0 (#164)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1447 | 1385 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1359 | — |
| SciCode | 40% | — |
| WeirdML | 35.2% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 927.17 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: —
- Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |

## Reasoning

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 21.8 (#213)
- Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1439 | 1364 |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 6% | — |
| DTBench | 74.9% | — |
| LMCA | 29.7% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 141.85 | — |

## Math

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 47.6 (#67)
- Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1470 | 1359 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 82.2% | — |

## Knowledge

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 45.7 (#85)
- Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.2% | 5.1% |
| LMArena Expert | 1447 | 1358 |
| GPQA Diamond | 73.2% | — |

## Multimodal

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 40.6 (#46)
- Nova 2 Lite: —

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1260 | — |

## Multilingual

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 53.1 (#71)
- Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1421 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1495 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1460 | 1381 |
| LMArena Russian | 1434 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1417 | 1373 |
| LMArena German | — | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1284 |

## Instruction Following

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 74.8 (#82)
- Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1420 | 1335 |

## Long Context

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 43.6 (#91)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1428 | 1335 |

## Writing & Preference

- Gemma 4 26B A4B IT: 58.6 (#115)
- Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)

| Benchmark | Gemma 4 26B A4B IT | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1434 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1402 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1441 | 1338 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1305 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Gemma 4 26B A4B IT better than Nova 2 Lite?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.5 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 26B A4B IT or Nova 2 Lite?

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is cheaper. It lists at $0.09 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.

### Is Gemma 4 26B A4B IT or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?

Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.7 versus 39.0 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 262K.

### How many benchmarks do Gemma 4 26B A4B IT and Nova 2 Lite share?

15 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemma 4 26B A4B IT has 28 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.