Model comparison
Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Nova 2 Lite
Gemini 3.6 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.1 to 39.0 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 1.8× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.6 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
GoogleSummary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher in 9 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Gemini 3.6 Flash leads 58.9 to 26.4.
- Nova 2 Lite is cheaper at $0.30 / $2.50 per million input/output tokens, against $0.75 / $3.75 for Gemini 3.6 Flash.
- Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 1M.
Side by side
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Amazon | |
| Noometry Index | 54.1 | 39.0 |
| Released | 2026-07-21 | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Max output | 66K | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.75 | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $3.75 | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 46 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 49.6 (#45), Nova 2 Lite: 40.1 (#131)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1492 | 1386 |
| DeepSWE | 46.7% | — |
| FrontierCode | 34.4% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1536 | — |
| SciCode | 52.7% | — |
| WeirdML | 56.1% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 715.52 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 32.4 (#56), Nova 2 Lite: 23.9 (#114)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 46.9% | — |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
| GDP.pdf | 14% | — |
Reasoning Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 58.9 (#20), Nova 2 Lite: 26.4 (#120)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1486 | 1364 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 60.4% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 89% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 91.2% | — |
| CritPt | 10.6% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 43% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 30% | — |
| DTBench | 95.5% | — |
| LMCA | 44.9% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 154.36 | — |
Math Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 57.0 (#33), Nova 2 Lite: 34.8 (#154)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1504 | 1359 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 58.9% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 22% | — |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | 70.8% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 94.2% | — |
| ProofBench | 36% | — |
Knowledge Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 67.8 (#7), Nova 2 Lite: 42.5 (#88)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1489 | 1360 |
| GPQA Diamond | 94.1% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 66.2% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 38.7 (#55), Nova 2 Lite: —
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1297 | — |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | 31.2% | — |
| Furniture Assembly | 23.3% | — |
| LMArena Document | 1456 | — |
Multilingual Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 56.8 (#17), Nova 2 Lite: 47.3 (#148)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1470 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1530 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1501 | 1381 |
| LMArena German | 1478 | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1477 | 1273 |
| LMArena Korean | 1435 | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | 1490 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1477 | 1372 |
Instruction Following Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 77.2 (#27), Nova 2 Lite: 70.7 (#156)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1467 | 1335 |
Long Context Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 45.1 (#47), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#145)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1475 | 1335 |
Writing & Preference Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Gemini 3.6 Flash: 68.3 (#26), Nova 2 Lite: 54.1 (#150)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1478 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1464 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1481 | 1338 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1604 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini 3.6 Flash better than Nova 2 Lite?
Gemini 3.6 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.1 to 39.0 on the Noometry Index. Nova 2 Lite costs 1.8× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.6 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash 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; Gemini 3.6 Flash lists at $0.75 and $3.75.
Is Gemini 3.6 Flash or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 49.6 versus 40.1 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.6 Flash does, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.6 Flash and Nova 2 Lite share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.6 Flash has 46 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.