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Nova 2 Lite vs Claude Sonnet 4.5

Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads Nova 2 Lite on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 20.7 to 13.4, and Nova 2 Lite costs 6.0x less per output token ($2.50 vs $15.00 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 30 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Nova 2 Lite Replace Claude Sonnet 4.5
Nova 2 LiteAmazon
Coding
No data
Overall
No data
Output $/M
$2.50
0
Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic
Coding
39.5
Overall
49.5
Output $/M
$15.00
30
vs boards won of 30 shared

Nova 2 Lite or Claude Sonnet 4.5: which to pick

Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a coding score, 39.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova 2 Lite has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.

Pick Nova 2 Lite for output tokens 6.0x cheaper ($2.50 vs $15.00 per million).

Model ANova 2 LiteAmazonNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmarkNo cost per solved taskModel BClaude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic39.5/1003 independent benchmarks$1.16 per solved task
Shared results
30
Nova 2 Lite only
1
Claude Sonnet 4.5 only
65
Like-for-like categories
6 of 9

Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.

Which one for your work

Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.

At a glance

Coding index
Nova 2 Lite not benchmarked, Claude Sonnet 4.5 39.5 from 3 benchmarks.
Widest category
Coding, 19.8 points apart on average over 3 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
AA Coding Index: Nova 2 Lite 23.0 against Claude Sonnet 4.5 52.1, 29.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Nova 2 Lite $2.50 against Claude Sonnet 4.5 $15.00 per million output tokens, 6.0x apart.
Context window
Both take 1M tokens.

Benchmark by benchmark

First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryNova 2 LiteBarsClaude Sonnet 4.5Ties
Coding03
Intelligence01
Reasoning03
Math02
Knowledge04
General017
All shared boards030
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index03
Coding benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteClaude Sonnet 4.5Leader
SWE-bench VerifiedNot measured74.8%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
SWE-bench MultilingualNot measured67.0%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
LMArena WebDevNot measured1394Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
AA Coding Index23.052.1Claude Sonnet 4.5
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)Not measured73.0%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)Not measured70.0%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)Not measured22.6%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Terminal-BenchNot measured46.5%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
GSO-BenchNot measured14.7%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
WeirdMLNot measured47.7%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
CybenchNot measured60.0%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
ALE-Bench236.3Not measuredOnly Nova 2 Lite measured
LMArena Text: coding13851488Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: software and IT13941473Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena WebDev: ReactNot measured1386Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
LMArena WebDev: HTMLNot measured1399Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 23 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Intelligence benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteClaude Sonnet 4.5Leader
AA Intelligence Index13.420.7Claude Sonnet 4.5
Epoch Capabilities IndexNot measured146.7Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11 boards, none shared
Agentic work benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteClaude Sonnet 4.5Leader
AA Agentic IndexNot measured15.8Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building web appsNot measured1059Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building full-stack appsNot measured1050Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building mobile appsNot measured1137Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
METR time horizonsNot measured67.4%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Remote Labor IndexNot measured2.1%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
GDPvalNot measured42.5%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
DeepResearch BenchNot measured52.6%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
OSWorldNot measured62.9%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Vending-Bench 2Not measured$3,839Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL)Not measured73.2%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 30 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
Reasoning benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteClaude Sonnet 4.5Leader
GPQA DiamondNot measured81.6%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)Not measured79.3%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)Not measured82.3%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
ARC-AGINot measured63.7%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
ARC-AGI-2Not measured13.6%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
SimpleBenchNot measured54.3%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Chess puzzlesNot measured10.0%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Mystery game puzzlesNot measured17.0%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
EBR-benchNot measured2.4%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
VPCTNot measured39.8%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts13641462Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: expert13591483Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English13851471Claude Sonnet 4.5
Kagi LLM BenchmarkNot measured57.9%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
Math benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteClaude Sonnet 4.5Leader
AIMENot measured88.2%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
MGSM (Vals AI)Not measured94.3%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
OTIS Mock AIMENot measured77.8%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3Not measured23.9%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
FrontierMath, tier 4Not measured2.4%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
ProofBenchNot measured19.0%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
MATH level 5Not measured97.7%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
LMArena Text: math13591449Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: mathematical work13691462Claude Sonnet 4.5
Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
Knowledge benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteClaude Sonnet 4.5Leader
MMLU ProNot measured87.4%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
LegalBench (Vals AI)Not measured84.1%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
CaseLaw (Vals AI)Not measured62.2%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)Not measured62.0%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
TaxEval (Vals AI)Not measured73.3%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
MortgageTax (Vals AI)Not measured64.0%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
MedQA (Vals AI)Not measured94.7%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
MedCode (Vals AI)Not measured44.1%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
SimpleQA VerifiedNot measured30.7%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
LMArena Text: science13821448Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare13861444Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: legal and government13591451Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: business and finance13691440Claude Sonnet 4.5
FACTS Benchmark SuiteNot measured40.6%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
Web design benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteClaude Sonnet 4.5Leader
Design Arena: websitesNot measured1190Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: UI componentsNot measured1173Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: game devNot measured1166Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: data vizNot measured1167Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: 3DNot measured1158Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: all code categoriesNot measured1183Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: SVGNot measured1115Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Design Arena: ASCII artNot measured1205Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index017
General benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteClaude Sonnet 4.5Leader
SAGE (Vals AI)Not measured36.1%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)Not measured84.5%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
DTBenchNot measured83.2%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
LMCANot measured38.8%Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
LMArena Text13621438Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: instruction following13351459Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: creative writing12921442Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: English13851450Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: non-English13371425Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: Chinese13641460Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: German13431427Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: Japanese12731390Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: Korean12811402Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: French13811459Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: Spanish13751458Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: Russian13421437Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: Polish13271423Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: multi-turn13381465Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: longer queries13351475Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: writing and language13181442Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena Text: entertainment and media13091428Claude Sonnet 4.5
LMArena DocumentNot measured1450Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteClaude Sonnet 4.5Leader
Neither model has a result on 5 boards here

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.

Chat turn

1K input + 500 output tokens

Nova 2 Lite$0.0015Fits in one request
Claude Sonnet 4.5$0.011Fits in one request

Nova 2 Lite costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Nova 2 Lite$0.022Fits in one request
Claude Sonnet 4.5$0.195Fits in one request

Nova 2 Lite costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Nova 2 Lite$0.085Fits in one request
Claude Sonnet 4.5$0.750Fits in one request

Nova 2 Lite costs less

Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.

Specification differences

The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.

Specifications of Nova 2 Lite and Claude Sonnet 4.5
SpecificationAmazon Nova 2 LiteAnthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5
MakerAmazonAnthropic
WeightsNo public weights listedNo public weights listed
ReleasedDecember 2, 2025September 29, 2025
Context window1M1M
Input $/Mtok$0.30$3.00
Output $/Mtok$2.50$15.00
Coding indexNot benchmarked39.5
Independent measurements behind it03
Cost per solved taskNot computable$1.16
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Nova 2 Lite better than Claude Sonnet 4.5 for coding?

Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a coding score, 39.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova 2 Lite has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Nova 2 Lite for output tokens 6.0x cheaper ($2.50 vs $15.00 per million).

Which is cheaper, Nova 2 Lite or Claude Sonnet 4.5?

Nova 2 Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3.00 and $15.00. Cost per solved task is known for Claude Sonnet 4.5 only.

Which has the bigger context window, Nova 2 Lite or Claude Sonnet 4.5?

Neither: both take 1M tokens.

How many benchmarks is the Nova 2 Lite vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 comparison based on?

30 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nova 2 Lite's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Claude Sonnet 4.5's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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