Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs Nova Lite
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Nova Lite is 1.9x cheaper per token.
Meta · Amazon · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct outperforms in 5 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, IFEval, MATH, MMLU), while Nova Lite is better at 0 benchmarks. Llama 3.3 70B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Nova Lite is roughly 1.9x 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 benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 5 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2024
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Nova Lite
- cost matters — it's about 1.9x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 300,000 token context window
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct outperforms in 5 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, IFEval, MATH, MMLU), while Nova Lite is better at 0 benchmarks.
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens) is 3.3x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.06/1M tokens).
For output processing, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens) is 1.2x cheaper than Nova Lite ($0.24/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct 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 Llama 3.3 70B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Llama 3.3 70B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Nova Lite is limited to 2,048 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Nova Lite supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.3 70B Instruct does not.
Nova Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
Nova Lite
License
Usage and distribution terms
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is licensed under Llama 3.3 Community License Agreement, while Nova Lite uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Llama 3.3 Community License Agreement
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct was released on 2024-12-06, while Nova Lite was released on 2024-11-20.
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is 1 month newer than Nova Lite.
Dec 6, 2024
1.7 years ago
2w 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
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is available from Lambda, DeepInfra, Hyperbolic, Groq, Sambanova, Cerebras, Bedrock, Together, Fireworks. Nova Lite is available from Bedrock.
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
Nova Lite
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and Nova Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs Nova Lite.