Nova Lite vs Nova Micro
Wins 5 of 6 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Facts · Long documents · Following instructions
Wins 0 of 6 areas
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Nova Lite is the stronger all-rounder.Nova Micro is cheaper.
Scores updated · 30 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the six areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking10Nova Lite1 of 3 tests · 2 ties
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up10Nova Lite1 of 3 tests · 2 ties
- CodingWriting and fixing software10Nova Lite1 of 2 tests · 1 tie
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Nova Lite1 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked10Nova Lite1 of 1 test
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own00Even0 each · 1 tie
Agents, long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Nova Micro costs 42% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Nova Lite pulls ahead
- Graduate-level biology, physics and chemistry questionsGPQA Diamond+7.5points ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+7.5points ahead
- Reasons across sets of long documentsAA-LCR+6points ahead
Where Nova Micro pulls ahead
No clear win on a test scored out of 100.
Every test, side by side
All 30 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
ReasoningNova Lite
- GPQA DiamondNova Lite by 7.543.335.8+7.5
- Humanity's Last Examtie4.34.6tie
- CritPttie00tie
FactsNova Lite
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationNova Lite by 7.542.434.9+7.5
- Vectara HHEM hallucination ratelower is bettertie6.15.5tie
- AA-Omniscience · Accuracytie9.810tie
Following instructionsNova Lite
- IFBenchNova Lite by 4.734.129.4+4.7
Other results19 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- BFCLv4Nova Lite by 10.466.656.2+10.4
- vectara_avg_summary_lengthNova Micro by 8.291.8100+8.2
- naturalquestions_closedbookNova Lite by 6.735.228.5+6.7
- AA-OmniscienceNova Lite by 6.3-42.2-48.5+6.3
- MMLUNova Lite by 5.369.364+5.3
- HumanEvalNova Lite by 4.385.481.1+4.3
- OpenBookQANova Lite by 492.888.8+4
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Nova Lite by 3.517.514+3.5
- BBHNova Lite by 2.982.479.5+2.9
- IFEvalNova Lite by 2.589.787.2+2.5
- NarrativeQANova Lite by 2.476.874.4+2.4
- ARC-ChallengeNova Lite by 2.292.490.2+2.2
- GSM8KNova Lite by 2.294.592.3+2.2
- AA Agentic IndexNova Lite by 1.15.84.7+1.1
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexNova Lite by 15.14.1+1
- DROPtie80.279.3tie
- AA Intelligencetie6.75.9tie
- vectara_factual_consistencytie93.994.5tie
- vectara_answer_ratetie99.9100tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Nova Lite or Nova Micro?
Nova Lite wins five of the six areas where both have results: coding, reasoning, facts, long documents and following instructions. Nova Micro wins none, but costs 42% less. They are level on agents.
Which is better for coding?
Nova Lite. It wins 1 of the 2 coding tests both models report; Nova Micro wins none, and 1 is a tie.
Which is cheaper?
Nova Lite costs $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.24 per million output tokens; Nova Micro costs $0.04 and $0.14. That makes Nova Micro about 42% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 30 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 11 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 19 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.