# Nemotron 3 Ultra vs Nova 2 Lite

> Nemotron 3 Ultra is the stronger model overall, scoring 44.7 to 39.0 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/nemotron-3-ultra-vs-nova-2-lite
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 16

## Summary

- They share 16 benchmarks with published results for both. Nemotron 3 Ultra scores higher in 6 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 2 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Nemotron 3 Ultra leads 66.3 to 54.1.
- Nova 2 Lite is cheaper at $0.30 / $2.50 per million input/output tokens, against $0.60 / $2.40 for Nemotron 3 Ultra.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 262K.
- Nemotron 3 Ultra has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | NVIDIA | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 44.7 | 39.0 |
| Rank | 71 | 161 |
| Context | 262K | 1M |
| Input $/M | $0.60 | $0.30 |
| Output $/M | $2.40 | $2.50 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Nemotron 3 Ultra: 37.7 (#174)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.1 (#131)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1468 | 1386 |
| FrontierCode | 13.6% | — |
| SciCode | 40.3% | — |
| WeirdML | 43.5% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Nemotron 3 Ultra: —
- Nova 2 Lite: 23.9 (#114)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |

## Reasoning

- Nemotron 3 Ultra: 30.3 (#78)
- Nova 2 Lite: 26.4 (#120)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1452 | 1364 |
| CritPt | 3.1% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 12% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 20% | — |
| DTBench | 90.1% | — |
| LMCA | 36.9% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 146.2 | — |

## Math

- Nemotron 3 Ultra: 34.4 (#160)
- Nova 2 Lite: 34.8 (#154)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1456 | 1359 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 86.7% | — |
| ProofBench | 2% | — |

## Knowledge

- Nemotron 3 Ultra: 52.5 (#56)
- Nova 2 Lite: 42.5 (#88)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1472 | 1360 |
| GPQA Diamond | 85.4% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |

## Multilingual

- Nemotron 3 Ultra: 53.7 (#61)
- Nova 2 Lite: 47.3 (#148)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1427 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1498 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1475 | 1381 |
| LMArena German | 1471 | 1343 |
| LMArena Korean | 1387 | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | 1415 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1452 | 1372 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1273 |

## Instruction Following

- Nemotron 3 Ultra: 74.9 (#84)
- Nova 2 Lite: 70.7 (#156)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1417 | 1335 |

## Long Context

- Nemotron 3 Ultra: 43.9 (#77)
- Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#145)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1437 | 1335 |

## Writing & Preference

- Nemotron 3 Ultra: 66.3 (#35)
- Nova 2 Lite: 54.1 (#150)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1444 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1392 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1412 | 1338 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1692 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Nemotron 3 Ultra better than Nova 2 Lite?

Nemotron 3 Ultra is the stronger model overall, scoring 44.7 to 39.0 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3 Ultra or Nova 2 Lite?

Nova 2 Lite is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Nemotron 3 Ultra lists at $0.60 and $2.40.

### Is Nemotron 3 Ultra or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?

Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.1 versus 37.7 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

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

### How many benchmarks do Nemotron 3 Ultra and Nova 2 Lite share?

16 benchmarks have published results for both models. Nemotron 3 Ultra has 29 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.