Nova 2 Lite vs Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads Nova 2 Lite on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 34.0 to 13.4, and Nova 2 Lite costs 1.5x less per output token ($2.50 vs $3.75 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 31 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nova 2 Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash: which to pick
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a coding score, 62.5 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 1.5x cheaper ($2.50 vs $3.75 per million).
- Shared results
- 31
- Nova 2 Lite only
- 0
- Gemini 3.6 Flash only
- 76
- 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.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 34.0 against 13.4.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a AA Agentic Index result, 29.0.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a GPQA Diamond result, 93.4%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a MMLU Pro result, 89.3%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a Design Arena: websites result, 1300.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 1M.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nova 2 Lite
Nova 2 Lite $0.0015, Gemini 3.6 Flash $0.0026 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has the number, $1.49.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nova 2 Lite not benchmarked, Gemini 3.6 Flash 62.5 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 24.1 points apart on average over 4 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- AA Coding Index: Nova 2 Lite 23.0 against Gemini 3.6 Flash 69.2, 46.2 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nova 2 Lite $2.50 against Gemini 3.6 Flash $3.75 per million output tokens, 1.5x apart.
- Context window
- Nova 2 Lite takes 1M tokens, Gemini 3.6 Flash 1.05M.
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.
| Category | Nova 2 Lite | Bars | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 4 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 3 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 0 | 17 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 31 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index04
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1538 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| AA Coding Index | 23.0 | 69.2 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 88.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 79.6% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 30.9% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 35.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 73.8% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 45.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 53.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierCode | Not measured | 34.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 56.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ALE-Bench | 236.3 | 715.5 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1385 | 1491 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1394 | 1492 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1528 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1547 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1545 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 13.4 | 34.0 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 154.5 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index16 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 29.0 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | Not measured | 1197 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | Not measured | 1181 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | Not measured | 1199 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | Not measured | 1203 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building games | Not measured | 1181 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: HTML slides | Not measured | 1148 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | Not measured | 1146 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | Not measured | 1034 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 56.3% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 25.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 65.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.5% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.3% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 46.9% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 23 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 93.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 88.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 92.8% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 40.8% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 94.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 91.2% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 60.4% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 30.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1364 | 1486 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1359 | 1490 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1385 | 1484 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1314 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1314 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 94.2% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 58.9% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 22.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 36.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1359 | 1508 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1369 | 1492 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 89.3% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 86.7% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 63.3% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 74.9% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.6% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 53.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 66.2% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1382 | 1489 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1386 | 1469 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1359 | 1479 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1369 | 1464 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1300 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1297 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1263 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1289 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1272 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1290 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1281 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index017
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 56.6% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 48.7% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 79.7% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 65.1% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 80.0% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| DTBench | Not measured | 95.5% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 44.9% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Furniture assembly | Not measured | 23.3% | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text | 1362 | 1480 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1335 | 1467 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1292 | 1466 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1299 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1385 | 1482 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1337 | 1470 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1364 | 1531 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: German | 1343 | 1480 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1273 | 1475 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1281 | 1429 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: French | 1381 | 1503 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1375 | 1476 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1342 | 1488 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1327 | 1473 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1338 | 1481 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1335 | 1475 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1318 | 1470 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1309 | 1456 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1295 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1357 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1312 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1289 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1278 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Document | Not measured | 1456 | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Nova 2 Lite costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
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.
| Specification | Amazon Nova 2 Lite | Google Gemini 3.6 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Amazon | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | December 2, 2025 | July 21, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.75 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $3.75 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 62.5 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $1.49 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nova 2 Lite better than Gemini 3.6 Flash for coding?
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a coding score, 62.5 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 1.5x cheaper ($2.50 vs $3.75 per million).
Which is cheaper, Nova 2 Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Nova 2 Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 and $3.75. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.6 Flash only.
Which has the bigger context window, Nova 2 Lite or Gemini 3.6 Flash?
Gemini 3.6 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks is the Nova 2 Lite vs Gemini 3.6 Flash comparison based on?
31 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nova 2 Lite's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Gemini 3.6 Flash's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.