Model comparison
GPT-4.1 nano vs Nova 2 Lite
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 27.7 on the Noometry Index. GPT-4.1 nano costs 4.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nova 2 Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 15 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 15 benchmarks with published results for both. GPT-4.1 nano scores higher in 1 category and Nova 2 Lite in 8 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Nova 2 Lite leads 42.5 to 21.8.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard: 33% for GPT-4.1 nano and 27.1% for Nova 2 Lite.
- GPT-4.1 nano is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.40 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $2.50 for Nova 2 Lite.
- GPT-4.1 nano accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 1M.
Side by side
| GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 27.7 | 39.0 |
| Released | 2025-04-14 | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Max output | 33K | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.10 | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.40 | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 38 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Nova 2 Lite leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 23.8 (#325), Nova 2 Lite: 40.1 (#131)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1306 | 1386 |
| Aider Polyglot | 8.9% | — |
| SciCode | 25.9% | — |
| WeirdML | 19% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use GPT-4.1 nano leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 26.3 (#98), Nova 2 Lite: 23.9 (#114)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 33% | 27.1% |
Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 8.6 (#344), Nova 2 Lite: 26.4 (#120)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1286 | 1364 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 0% | — |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 33.3% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 0% | — |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| DTBench | 52.5% | — |
| LMCA | 5.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 129.62 | — |
Math Nova 2 Lite leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 25.5 (#246), Nova 2 Lite: 34.8 (#154)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1274 | 1359 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 28.9% | — |
| Omni-MATH | 36.7% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 70% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 1% | — |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 21.8 (#268), Nova 2 Lite: 42.5 (#88)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1272 | 1360 |
| GPQA Diamond | 48.9% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 6% | — |
| MMLU-Pro | 55% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
| GPQA (HELM) | 50.7% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
GPT-4.1 nano: 28.6 (#108), Nova 2 Lite: —
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1063 | — |
Multilingual Nova 2 Lite leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 41.8 (#200), Nova 2 Lite: 47.3 (#148)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1260 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1270 | 1364 |
| LMArena German | 1288 | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1199 | 1273 |
| LMArena Russian | 1261 | 1343 |
| LMArena French | — | 1381 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1284 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1372 |
Instruction Following Nova 2 Lite leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 68.0 (#188), Nova 2 Lite: 70.7 (#156)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1267 | 1335 |
| IFEval | 84.3% | — |
Long Context Nova 2 Lite leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 23.7 (#291), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#145)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1283 | 1335 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 25% | — |
Writing & Preference Nova 2 Lite leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 40.7 (#238), Nova 2 Lite: 54.1 (#150)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1285 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1260 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1277 | 1338 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 946 | — |
| WildBench | 81.2% | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is GPT-4.1 nano better than Nova 2 Lite?
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 27.7 on the Noometry Index. GPT-4.1 nano costs 4.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nova 2 Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 nano or Nova 2 Lite?
GPT-4.1 nano is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.40 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.
Is GPT-4.1 nano or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.1 versus 23.8 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-4.1 nano does, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks do GPT-4.1 nano and Nova 2 Lite share?
15 benchmarks have published results for both models. GPT-4.1 nano has 38 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.