Model Comparison

Gemma 2 27B vs Nova LiteWhich is better in 2026?

Nova Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Gemma 2 27B vs Nova Lite — which is better?

Gemma 2 27B (by Google) 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.

Gemma 2 27B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Nova Lite is better at 5 benchmarks (ARC-C, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU). Nova Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Gemma 2 27B if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Nova Lite if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 5 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2024
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Gemma 2 27B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Nova Lite is better at 5 benchmarks (ARC-C, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU).

Nova Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jun 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Nova Lite specifies input context (300,000 tokens). Only Nova Lite specifies output context (2,048 tokens).

Google
Gemma 2 27B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Amazon
Nova Lite
Input300,000 tokens
Output2,048 tokens
Tue Jun 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Nova Lite supports multimodal inputs, whereas Gemma 2 27B does not.

Nova Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Gemma 2 27B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nova Lite

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemma 2 27B is licensed under Gemma, while Nova Lite uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Gemma 2 27B

Gemma

Open weights

Nova Lite

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemma 2 27B was released on 2024-06-27, while Nova Lite was released on 2024-11-20.

Nova Lite is 5 months newer than Gemma 2 27B.

Gemma 2 27B

Jun 27, 2024

2.0 years ago

Nova Lite

Nov 20, 2024

1.6 years ago

4mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Google
Has open weights
Amazon
Larger context window (300,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher ARC-C score (92.4% vs 71.4%)
Higher GSM8k score (94.5% vs 74.0%)
Higher HumanEval score (85.4% vs 51.8%)
Higher MATH score (73.3% vs 42.3%)
Higher MMLU score (80.5% vs 75.2%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 2 27B
Amazon
Nova Lite

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 2 27B vs Nova Lite.

Which is better, Gemma 2 27B or Nova Lite?

Nova Lite significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Gemma 2 27B is made by Google and Nova Lite is made by Amazon. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Gemma 2 27B compare to Nova Lite in benchmarks?

Gemma 2 27B scores ARC-E: 88.6%, HellaSwag: 86.4%, BoolQ: 84.8%, TriviaQA: 83.7%, Winogrande: 83.7%. Nova Lite scores GSM8k: 94.5%, ARC-C: 92.4%, DocVQA: 92.4%, IFEval: 89.7%, Translation en→Set1 COMET22: 88.8%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemma 2 27B and Nova Lite?

Gemma 2 27B supports an unknown number of tokens and Nova Lite supports 300K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Gemma 2 27B and Nova Lite?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Gemma vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemma 2 27B and Nova Lite?

Gemma 2 27B is developed by Google and Nova Lite is developed by Amazon.

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