# Molmo 2 8b vs Yi-Lightning

> Molmo 2 8b is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.7 to 36.5 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/molmo-2-8b-vs-yi-lightning
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 4

## Summary

- They share 4 benchmarks with published results for both. Molmo 2 8b scores higher in 1 category and Yi-Lightning in 3 categories, but none of those gaps is larger than the uncertainty.
- Molmo 2 8b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) | 01.AI |
| Noometry Index | 38.7 | 36.5 |
| Rank | 170 | 206 |
| Context | — | — |
| Input $/M | — | — |
| Output $/M | — | — |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Molmo 2 8b: —
- Yi-Lightning: 27.0 (#315)

| Benchmark | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Aider Polyglot | — | 12.9% |
| LMArena Coding | — | 1313 |

## Reasoning

- Molmo 2 8b: 24.5 (#146)
- Yi-Lightning: 24.9 (#137)

| Benchmark | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1288 | 1302 |

## Math

- Molmo 2 8b: —
- Yi-Lightning: 33.5 (#173)

| Benchmark | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1300 |

## Knowledge

- Molmo 2 8b: —
- Yi-Lightning: 34.8 (#182)

| Benchmark | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | — | 1286 |

## Multimodal

- Molmo 2 8b: 29.5 (#106)
- Yi-Lightning: —

| Benchmark | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1081 | — |

## Multilingual

- Molmo 2 8b: 42.8 (#186)
- Yi-Lightning: 42.4 (#191)

| Benchmark | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1275 | 1269 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1320 |
| LMArena French | — | 1304 |
| LMArena German | — | 1267 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1228 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1192 |
| LMArena Russian | — | 1255 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1315 |

## Instruction Following

- Molmo 2 8b: 67.2 (#196)
- Yi-Lightning: 67.6 (#191)

| Benchmark | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1270 | 1278 |

## Long Context

- Molmo 2 8b: —
- Yi-Lightning: 39.4 (#176)

| Benchmark | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | — | 1297 |

## Writing & Preference

- Molmo 2 8b: 49.5 (#187)
- Yi-Lightning: 50.4 (#178)

| Benchmark | Molmo 2 8b | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1288 | 1302 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | — | 1280 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | — | 1311 |

## FAQ

### Is Molmo 2 8b better than Yi-Lightning?

Molmo 2 8b is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.7 to 36.5 on the Noometry Index.

### How many benchmarks do Molmo 2 8b and Yi-Lightning share?

4 benchmarks have published results for both models. Molmo 2 8b has 5 scored results on Noometry and Yi-Lightning has 18.