Nova 2 Lite vs Mistral Large 3 2512
Nova 2 Lite leads Mistral Large 3 2512 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 13.4 to 9.3, and Mistral Large 3 2512 costs 1.7x less per output token ($1.50 vs $2.50 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 3 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nova 2 Lite or Mistral Large 3 2512: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Nova 2 Lite for a larger context window (1M against 262K tokens) and work measured by ALE-Bench, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 3
- Nova 2 Lite only
- 28
- Mistral Large 3 2512 only
- 25
- Like-for-like categories
- 2 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
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Nova 2 Lite
Nova 2 Lite leads, 13.4 against 9.3.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Mistral Large 3 2512 has a AA Agentic Index result, 1.0.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Mistral Large 3 2512 has a GPQA Diamond result, 68.4%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Mistral Large 3 2512 has a AIME result, 42.9%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Mistral Large 3 2512 has a MMLU Pro result, 79.8%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Mistral Large 3 2512 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1162.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Nova 2 Lite
Nova 2 Lite takes 1M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mistral Large 3 2512
Nova 2 Lite $0.0015, Mistral Large 3 2512 $0.0013 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Mistral Large 3 2512 has the number, $0.77.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nova 2 Lite not benchmarked, Mistral Large 3 2512 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Intelligence, 4.1 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- AA Intelligence Index: Nova 2 Lite 13.4 against Mistral Large 3 2512 9.3, 4.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nova 2 Lite $2.50 against Mistral Large 3 2512 $1.50 per million output tokens, 1.7x apart.
- Context window
- Nova 2 Lite takes 1M tokens, Mistral Large 3 2512 262K.
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 | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 1 | 1 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 2 | 1 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index11
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Coding Index | 23.0 | 20.1 | Nova 2 Lite |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 55.3% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 41.4% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 236.3 | 264.7 | Mistral Large 3 2512 |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1385 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1394 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 13.4 | 9.3 | Nova 2 Lite |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 1.0 | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 68.4% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 66.2% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1364 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1359 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1385 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | Not measured | 42.9% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.4% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1359 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1369 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 79.8% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 79.1% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 61.4% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 61.0% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 73.1% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 52.1% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | Not measured | 82.2% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1382 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1386 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1359 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1369 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1162 | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1102 | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1080 | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1136 | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1100 | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1142 | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 993 | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1069 | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Mistral Large 3 2512 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 24.6% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| DTBench | Not measured | 65.1% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 16.7% | Only Mistral Large 3 2512 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1362 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1335 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1292 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1385 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1337 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1364 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1343 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1273 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1281 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1381 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1375 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1342 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1327 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1338 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1335 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1318 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1309 | Not measured | Only Nova 2 Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Mistral Large 3 2512 | 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
Mistral Large 3 2512 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 | Mistral Large 3 2512 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Amazon | Mistral AI |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | December 2, 2025 | December 1, 2025 |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.50 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $1.50 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.77 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nova 2 Lite better than Mistral Large 3 2512 for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Nova 2 Lite for a larger context window (1M against 262K tokens) and work measured by ALE-Bench, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Nova 2 Lite or Mistral Large 3 2512?
Nova 2 Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Mistral Large 3 2512 costs $0.50 and $1.50. Cost per solved task is known for Mistral Large 3 2512 only.
Which has the bigger context window, Nova 2 Lite or Mistral Large 3 2512?
Nova 2 Lite, with 1M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Nova 2 Lite vs Mistral Large 3 2512 comparison based on?
3 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nova 2 Lite's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Mistral Large 3 2512's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.