# MiniMax-M2.5 vs Nova 2 Lite

> Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 38.3 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2.5 costs 1.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nova 2 Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/minimax-m2-5-vs-nova-2-lite
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 18

## Summary

- They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. MiniMax-M2.5 scores higher in 5 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 4 categories; 6 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Nova 2 Lite leads 37.5 to 26.9.
- MiniMax-M2.5 is cheaper at $0.30 / $1.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $2.50 for Nova 2 Lite.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 205K.
- MiniMax-M2.5 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 38.3 | 39.7 |
| Rank | 188 | 161 |
| Context | 205K | 1M |
| Input $/M | $0.30 | $0.30 |
| Output $/M | $1.20 | $2.50 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- MiniMax-M2.5: 48.1 (#58)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1381 | 1385 |
| SWE-bench Verified (bash only) | 75.8% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1387 | — |
| SWE-bench Multilingual | 68.3% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 618.17 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- MiniMax-M2.5: 30.4 (#77)
- Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 42.7% | — |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
| Vending-Bench 2 | -23.16 | — |

## Reasoning

- MiniMax-M2.5: 17.5 (#292)
- Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1372 | 1364 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 4.9% | — |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 55.2% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 16.8% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 63.7% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 146.68 | — |

## Math

- MiniMax-M2.5: 26.9 (#253)
- Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1378 | 1359 |
| ProofBench | 4% | — |

## Knowledge

- MiniMax-M2.5: 39.2 (#135)
- Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 9.1% | 5.1% |
| LMArena Expert | 1379 | 1358 |

## Multilingual

- MiniMax-M2.5: 47.1 (#152)
- Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1338 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1393 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1362 | 1381 |
| LMArena German | 1362 | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1171 | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | 1232 | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | 1358 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1354 | 1373 |

## Instruction Following

- MiniMax-M2.5: 71.5 (#148)
- Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1353 | 1335 |

## Long Context

- MiniMax-M2.5: 37.5 (#216)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1366 | 1335 |
| CL-bench | 11.4% | — |
| CL-bench Life | 6.3% | — |

## Writing & Preference

- MiniMax-M2.5: 53.9 (#153)
- Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1359 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1364 | 1338 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1361 | — |

## FAQ

### Is MiniMax-M2.5 better than Nova 2 Lite?

Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 38.3 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2.5 costs 1.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nova 2 Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M2.5 or Nova 2 Lite?

MiniMax-M2.5 is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.

### Is MiniMax-M2.5 or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?

MiniMax-M2.5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 48.1 versus 40.7 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 205K.

### How many benchmarks do MiniMax-M2.5 and Nova 2 Lite share?

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax-M2.5 has 33 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.