Claude Opus 5 vs Nova Lite
Claude Opus 5 leads the LLM Stats Score 54.6 to 7.6. Nova Lite is 95.2x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · Amazon · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude Opus 5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 54.6 to 7.6, ranking #5 overall.
On price, Nova Lite is roughly 95.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude Opus 5 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 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 Opus 5
- overall performance matters — it scores 54.6 and ranks #5 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026
Choose Nova Lite
- cost matters — it's about 95.2x cheaper per token
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
13 reported for Claude Opus 5 · 27 for Nova Lite
Claude Opus 5 and Nova Litedon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude Opus 5 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 83.3x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.06/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude Opus 5 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 104.2x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.24/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude Opus 5 is more expensive than Nova Lite.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Claude Opus 5 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Nova Lite's 300,000 tokens. Claude Opus 5 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Nova Lite is limited to 2,048 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Claude Opus 5 and Nova Lite support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Claude Opus 5
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 Opus 5 was released on 2026-07-24, while Nova Lite was released on 2024-11-20.
Claude Opus 5 is 20 months newer than Nova Lite.
Jul 24, 2026
1 months ago
1.7yr newerNov 20, 2024
1.8 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Claude Opus 5 is available from Anthropic, DeepInfra. Nova Lite is available from Bedrock.
Claude Opus 5
Nova Lite
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 5 and Nova Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude Opus 5 vs Nova Lite.