Claude 3 Haiku vs Nova Lite
Nova Lite leads the LLM Stats Score 8.1 to -0.8. Nova Lite is 4.8x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · Amazon · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Nova Lite leads the overall LLM Stats Score 8.1 to -0.8, ranking #267 overall.
In the 7 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Nova Lite wins 7; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
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.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude 3 Haiku
- you want predictable pricing at $0.25/M input and $1.25/M output
Choose Nova Lite
- overall performance matters — it scores 8.1 and ranks #267 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 7 of 7 exact shared results
- 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
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
10 reported for Claude 3 Haiku · 27 for Nova Lite
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.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
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
Documented input modalities across available providers
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
2.5 years ago
Nov 20, 2024
1.8 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
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude 3 Haiku and Nova Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3 Haiku vs Nova Lite.