Nova Lite 1.0 vs Gemma 4 26B A4B
Gemma 4 26B A4B leads Nova Lite 1.0 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 16.7 to 6.7, and Nova Lite 1.0 costs 2.5x less per output token ($0.24 vs $0.60 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 33 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nova Lite 1.0 or Gemma 4 26B A4B: 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 2.5x cheaper ($0.24 vs $0.60 per million) and a larger context window (300K against 262K tokens).
- Shared results
- 33
- Nova Lite 1.0 only
- 8
- Gemma 4 26B A4B only
- 22
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 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
Gemma 4 26B A4B
Gemma 4 26B A4B leads, 16.7 against 6.7.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemma 4 26B A4B has a AA Agentic Index result, 2.9.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Nova Lite 1.0
Nova Lite 1.0 takes 300K tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nova Lite 1.0
Nova Lite 1.0 $0.0002, Gemma 4 26B A4B $0.0004 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nova Lite 1.0 not benchmarked, Gemma 4 26B A4B not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Math, 40.3 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Nova Lite 1.0 19.0% against Gemma 4 26B A4B 65.7%, 46.7 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nova Lite 1.0 $0.24 against Gemma 4 26B A4B $0.60 per million output tokens, 2.5x apart.
- Context window
- Nova Lite 1.0 takes 300K tokens, Gemma 4 26B A4B 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 Lite 1.0 | Bars | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 3 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 5 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 0 | 17 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 33 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index03
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1360 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 39.3 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 16.7% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 40.0% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 0.8% | 25.0% | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 35.2% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 927.2 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1239 | 1446 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1241 | 1454 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1351 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1362 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 28 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 6.7 | 16.7 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 141.9 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 2.9 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 17.5% | 43.6% | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| Neither model has a result on the other 39 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 43.3% | 79.2% | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.3% | 19.3% | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 73.2% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1220 | 1438 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1201 | 1447 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1226 | 1448 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1264 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1293 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemma 4 26B A4B | 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 | 82.2% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1227 | 1470 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1235 | 1475 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemma 4 26B A4B | 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 | 1446 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1213 | 1428 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1238 | 1457 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1219 | 1429 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | Not measured | 42.7% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B 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 | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index017
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 34.1% | 72.4% | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 19.0% | 65.7% | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| DTBench | Not measured | 74.9% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 29.7% | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Text | 1229 | 1434 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1205 | 1420 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1197 | 1400 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Vision | 990 | 1260 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: English | 1243 | 1444 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1208 | 1421 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1225 | 1495 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| 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 | 1460 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1226 | 1415 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1216 | 1434 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1199 | 1441 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1234 | 1427 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1211 | 1405 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1176 | 1403 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Vision: English | 999 | 1256 | Gemma 4 26B A4B |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1312 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1268 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1272 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | Not measured | 1297 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | Not measured | 1191 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1256 | Only Gemma 4 26B A4B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Gemma 4 26B A4B | 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 Gemma 4 26B A4B |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Amazon | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | December 5, 2024 | April 3, 2026 |
| Context window | 300K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.06 | $0.15 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.24 | $0.60 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nova Lite 1.0 better than Gemma 4 26B A4B 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 2.5x cheaper ($0.24 vs $0.60 per million) and a larger context window (300K against 262K tokens).
Which is cheaper, Nova Lite 1.0 or Gemma 4 26B A4B?
Nova Lite 1.0 costs $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.24 per million output tokens; Gemma 4 26B A4B costs $0.15 and $0.60. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Nova Lite 1.0 or Gemma 4 26B A4B?
Nova Lite 1.0, with 300K tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Nova Lite 1.0 vs Gemma 4 26B A4B comparison based on?
33 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 Gemma 4 26B A4B's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.