# Granite 3.0 2b Instruct vs Nova 2 Lite

> Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 30.2 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-3-0-2b-instruct-vs-nova-2-lite
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 3.0 2b Instruct scores higher in 0 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Nova 2 Lite leads 54.1 to 29.8.
- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 30.2 | 39.0 |
| Rank | 284 | 161 |
| Context | — | 1M |
| Input $/M | — | $0.30 |
| Output $/M | — | $2.50 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 27.8 (#311)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.1 (#131)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1090 | 1386 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 20.5% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: —
- Nova 2 Lite: 23.9 (#114)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |

## Reasoning

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 19.6 (#234)
- Nova 2 Lite: 26.4 (#120)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1073 | 1364 |

## Math

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 29.7 (#215)
- Nova 2 Lite: 34.8 (#154)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1117 | 1359 |

## Knowledge

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 28.4 (#238)
- Nova 2 Lite: 42.5 (#88)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1064 | 1360 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |

## Multilingual

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 27.1 (#273)
- Nova 2 Lite: 47.3 (#148)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1033 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1070 | 1364 |
| LMArena Russian | 1045 | 1343 |
| LMArena French | — | 1381 |
| LMArena German | — | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1273 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1284 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1372 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 54.2 (#279)
- Nova 2 Lite: 70.7 (#156)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1056 | 1335 |

## Long Context

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 32.5 (#263)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#145)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1071 | 1335 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 29.8 (#287)
- Nova 2 Lite: 54.1 (#150)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1080 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1046 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1053 | 1338 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 3.0 2b Instruct better than Nova 2 Lite?

Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 30.2 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 3.0 2b Instruct or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?

Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.1 versus 27.8 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 3.0 2b Instruct and Nova 2 Lite share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.0 2b Instruct has 13 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.