# Granite 3.0 8b Instruct vs Nova 2 Lite

> Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 31.6 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-3-0-8b-instruct-vs-nova-2-lite
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 3.0 8b 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 53.9 to 31.1.
- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 31.6 | 39.7 |
| Rank | 270 | 161 |
| Context | — | 1M |
| Input $/M | — | $0.30 |
| Output $/M | — | $2.50 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 29.7 (#301)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1112 | 1385 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 29.3% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 35.4% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: —
- Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |

## Reasoning

- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 20.9 (#230)
- Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1092 | 1364 |

## Math

- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 32.8 (#210)
- Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1143 | 1359 |

## Knowledge

- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 29.6 (#236)
- Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1087 | 1358 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |

## Multilingual

- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 27.2 (#276)
- Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1037 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1063 | 1364 |
| LMArena Russian | 1060 | 1343 |
| LMArena French | — | 1381 |
| LMArena German | — | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1284 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1373 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 56.0 (#276)
- Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1088 | 1335 |

## Long Context

- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 34.0 (#252)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1122 | 1335 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 3.0 8b Instruct: 31.1 (#285)
- Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 8b Instruct | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1096 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1071 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1063 | 1338 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 3.0 8b Instruct better than Nova 2 Lite?

Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 31.6 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 3.0 8b Instruct or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?

Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.7 versus 29.7 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 3.0 8b Instruct and Nova 2 Lite share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.0 8b Instruct has 14 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.