Nova Lite 1.0 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
Nova Lite 1.0 costs 6.3x less per output token than Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite ($0.24 vs $1.50 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 6 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nova Lite 1.0 or Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Nova Lite 1.0 for output tokens 6.3x cheaper ($0.24 vs $1.50 per million) and work measured by Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or τ²-Bench Telecom, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 6
- Nova Lite 1.0 only
- 35
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite only
- 9
- Like-for-like categories
- 4 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
No call
Only Nova Lite 1.0 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 6.7.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens against 300K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nova Lite 1.0
Nova Lite 1.0 $0.0002, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nova Lite 1.0 not benchmarked, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- General, 49.2 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Nova Lite 1.0 19.0% against Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite 74.3%, 55.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nova Lite 1.0 $0.24 against Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite $1.50 per million output tokens, 6.3x apart.
- Context window
- Nova Lite 1.0 takes 300K tokens, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite 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 Lite 1.0 | Bars | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 2 | ||
| General | 0 | 2 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 6 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index01
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 16.7% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 43.4% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 0.8% | 24.2% | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 52.2% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1239 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1241 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 6.7 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 144.3 | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 17.5% | 31.3% | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite |
| DeepResearch Bench | Not measured | 37.3% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 37 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 43.3% | 82.2% | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.3% | 17.2% | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 81.8% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1220 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1201 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1226 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 7.0 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 7.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 80.0% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 27.7% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1227 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1235 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 59.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| MMLU | 77.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1232 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1213 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1238 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1219 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 34.1% | 77.2% | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 19.0% | 74.3% | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite |
| DTBench | Not measured | 76.8% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 35.0% | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text | 1229 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1205 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1197 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Vision | 990 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1243 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1208 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1225 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1229 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1153 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1153 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1238 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1226 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1216 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1199 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1234 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1211 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1176 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | 999 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 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
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | 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 Lite 1.0 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Nova Lite 1.0 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Nova Lite 1.0 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 Lite 1.0 | Google Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Amazon | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | December 5, 2024 | May 7, 2026 |
| Context window | 300K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.06 | $0.25 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.24 | $1.50 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nova Lite 1.0 better than Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Nova Lite 1.0 for output tokens 6.3x cheaper ($0.24 vs $1.50 per million) and work measured by Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or τ²-Bench Telecom, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Nova Lite 1.0 or Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite?
Nova Lite 1.0 costs $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.24 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite costs $0.25 and $1.50. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Nova Lite 1.0 or Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite, with 1.05M tokens against 300K.
How many benchmarks is the Nova Lite 1.0 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite comparison based on?
6 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nova Lite 1.0's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.