Enter opens the highlighted result. Esc closes.

Nova 2 Lite vs Inkling Small

Updated October 21, 2026. 30 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.

Replace Nova 2 Lite Replace Inkling Small
Nova 2 LiteAmazon
Coding
No data
Overall
13.4
Output $/M
$2.50
0
T Inkling SmallThinking Machines
Coding
27.3
Overall
25.7
Output $/M
$1.20
30
vs boards won of 30 shared

Decision reading

Only Inkling Small has a coding score, 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova 2 Lite has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.

Nova 2 Lite has the edge where the context window is larger, 1M against 524K tokens.

Model ANova 2 LiteAmazonNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmarkNo cost per solved taskModel BInkling SmallThinking Machines27.3/1004 independent benchmarks$0.16 per solved task
Shared results
30
Nova 2 Lite only
1
Inkling Small only
54
Like-for-like categories
6 of 9

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.

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, Inkling Small 27.3 from 4 benchmarks.
Widest category
Coding, 16.5 points apart on average over 3 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
AA Coding Index: Nova 2 Lite 23.0 against Inkling Small 52.9, 29.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Nova 2 Lite $2.50 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 2.1x apart.
Context window
Nova 2 Lite takes 1M tokens, Inkling Small 524K.

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 LiteBarsInkling SmallTies
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 Inkling Small
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteInkling SmallLeader
LMArena WebDevNot measured1409Only Inkling Small measured
AA Coding Index23.052.9Inkling Small
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)Not measured85.9%Only Inkling Small measured
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)Not measured82.2%Only Inkling Small measured
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)Not measured0.0%Only Inkling Small measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)Not measured19.1%Only Inkling Small measured
Code migration (Vals AI)Not measured13.7%Only Inkling Small measured
ProgramBench (Vals AI)Not measured0.5%Only Inkling Small measured
IOI (Vals AI)Not measured9.3%Only Inkling Small measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)Not measured55.1%Only Inkling Small measured
SkillsBench (Vals AI)Not measured33.6%Only Inkling Small measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)Not measured64.1%Only Inkling Small measured
SciCodeNot measured49.7%Only Inkling Small measured
ALE-Bench236.3Not measuredOnly Nova 2 Lite measured
LMArena Text: coding13851450Inkling Small
LMArena Text: software and IT13941447Inkling Small
LMArena WebDev: ReactNot measured1399Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena WebDev: HTMLNot measured1398Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena WebDev: from an imageNot measured1410Only Inkling Small measured
Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Intelligence benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Inkling Small
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteInkling SmallLeader
AA Intelligence Index13.425.7Inkling Small
Epoch Capabilities IndexNot measured150.3Only Inkling Small measured
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
Agentic work benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Inkling Small
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteInkling SmallLeader
AA Agentic IndexNot measured23.5Only Inkling Small measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)Not measured41.3%Only Inkling Small measured
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)Not measured15.4%Only Inkling Small measured
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)Not measured25.5%Only Inkling Small measured
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI)Not measured2.9%Only Inkling Small measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)Not measured31.8%Only Inkling Small measured
Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
Reasoning benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Inkling Small
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteInkling SmallLeader
GPQA DiamondNot measured83.6%Only Inkling Small measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)Not measured89.5%Only Inkling Small measured
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)Not measured33.3%Only Inkling Small measured
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)Not measured88.5%Only Inkling Small measured
ARC-AGINot measured84.0%Only Inkling Small measured
ARC-AGI-2Not measured40.1%Only Inkling Small measured
Mystery game puzzlesNot measured6.0%Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts13641423Inkling Small
LMArena Text: expert13591441Inkling Small
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English13851429Inkling Small
LMArena Vision: diagramsNot measured1251Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: homeworkNot measured1257Only Inkling Small measured
Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
Math benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Inkling Small
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteInkling SmallLeader
OTIS Mock AIMENot measured90.0%Only Inkling Small measured
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3Not measured46.3%Only Inkling Small measured
FrontierMath, tier 4Not measured17.1%Only Inkling Small measured
ProofBenchNot measured6.0%Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text: math13591459Inkling Small
LMArena Text: mathematical work13691441Inkling Small
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
Knowledge benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Inkling Small
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteInkling SmallLeader
MMLU ProNot measured85.6%Only Inkling Small measured
LegalBench (Vals AI)Not measured83.0%Only Inkling Small measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)Not measured69.6%Only Inkling Small measured
TaxEval (Vals AI)Not measured75.5%Only Inkling Small measured
MortgageTax (Vals AI)Not measured62.3%Only Inkling Small measured
MedCode (Vals AI)Not measured37.9%Only Inkling Small measured
SimpleQA VerifiedNot measured19.1%Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text: science13821428Inkling Small
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare13861413Inkling Small
LMArena Text: legal and government13591415Inkling Small
LMArena Text: business and finance13691413Inkling Small
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Web design benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Inkling Small
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteInkling SmallLeader
Neither model has a result on 9 boards here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index017
General benchmarks for Nova 2 Lite and Inkling Small
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteInkling SmallLeader
Vals IndexNot measured27.6%Only Inkling Small measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)Not measured59.4%Only Inkling Small measured
SAGE (Vals AI)Not measured32.7%Only Inkling Small measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)Not measured84.1%Only Inkling Small measured
Vals Multimodal IndexNot measured50.0%Only Inkling Small measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)Not measured75.7%Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text13621413Inkling Small
LMArena Text: instruction following13351399Inkling Small
LMArena Text: creative writing12921334Inkling Small
LMArena VisionNot measured1237Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text: English13851421Inkling Small
LMArena Text: non-English13371401Inkling Small
LMArena Text: Chinese13641464Inkling Small
LMArena Text: German13431408Inkling Small
LMArena Text: Japanese12731401Inkling Small
LMArena Text: Korean12811367Inkling Small
LMArena Text: French13811435Inkling Small
LMArena Text: Spanish13751422Inkling Small
LMArena Text: Russian13421394Inkling Small
LMArena Text: Polish13271428Inkling Small
LMArena Text: multi-turn13381416Inkling Small
LMArena Text: longer queries13351402Inkling Small
LMArena Text: writing and language13181357Inkling Small
LMArena Text: entertainment and media13091352Inkling Small
LMArena Vision: EnglishNot measured1243Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: ChineseNot measured1292Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: reading textNot measured1243Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: humorNot measured1207Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: creative writingNot measured1205Only Inkling Small measured
Neither model has a result on the other 17 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 Inkling Small
BenchmarkNova 2 LiteInkling SmallLeader
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
Inkling Small$0.0010Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Nova 2 Lite$0.022Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.026Fits in one request

Nova 2 Lite costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Nova 2 Lite$0.085Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.102Fits 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 Inkling Small
SpecificationAmazon Nova 2 LiteThinking Machines Inkling Small
MakerAmazonThinking Machines
WeightsNo public weights listedOpen weights
ReleasedDecember 2, 2025July 30, 2026
Context window1M524K
Input $/Mtok$0.30$0.45
Output $/Mtok$2.50$1.20
Coding indexNot benchmarked27.3
Independent measurements behind it04
Cost per solved taskNot computable$0.16
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Nova 2 Lite better than Inkling Small for coding?

Only Inkling Small has a coding score, 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova 2 Lite has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Nova 2 Lite has the edge where the context window is larger, 1M against 524K tokens.

Which is cheaper, Nova 2 Lite or Inkling Small?

Nova 2 Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Cost per solved task is known for Inkling Small only.

Which has the bigger context window, Nova 2 Lite or Inkling Small?

Nova 2 Lite, with 1M tokens against 524K.

How many benchmarks is the Nova 2 Lite vs Inkling Small 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 Inkling Small's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

Compare next