Model Comparison
Claude 3 Haiku vs Nova LiteWhich is better in 2026?
Nova Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Nova Lite is 4.8x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Claude 3 Haiku vs Nova Lite — which is better?
Claude 3 Haiku (by Anthropic) and Nova Lite (by Amazon) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
Claude 3 Haiku outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Nova Lite is better at 7 benchmarks (ARC-C, DROP, GPQA, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU). Nova Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Nova Lite is roughly 4.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Nova Lite also accepts a larger context window (300,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Claude 3 Haiku if…
- you want predictable pricing at $0.25/M input and $1.25/M output
Choose Nova Lite if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 7 of 7 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 4.8x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 300,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2024
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude 3 Haiku outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Nova Lite is better at 7 benchmarks (ARC-C, DROP, GPQA, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU).
Nova Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude 3 Haiku ($0.25/1M tokens) is 4.2x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.06/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3 Haiku ($1.25/1M tokens) is 5.2x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.24/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude 3 Haiku is more expensive than Nova Lite.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Nova Lite accepts 300,000 input tokens compared to Claude 3 Haiku's 200,000 tokens. Claude 3 Haiku can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while Nova Lite is limited to 2,048 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Claude 3 Haiku and Nova Lite support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Claude 3 Haiku
Nova Lite
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude 3 Haiku was released on 2024-03-13, while Nova Lite was released on 2024-11-20.
Nova Lite is 8 months newer than Claude 3 Haiku.
Mar 13, 2024
2.2 years ago
Nov 20, 2024
1.5 years ago
8mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Claude 3 Haiku is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. Nova Lite is available from Bedrock.
Claude 3 Haiku
Nova Lite
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude 3 Haiku
View detailsAnthropic
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Nova Lite
View detailsAmazon
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3 Haiku vs Nova Lite.