LongCat-Flash-Chat vs Nova Lite
LongCat-Flash-Chat leads the LLM Stats Score 19.8 to 7.6. Nova Lite is 5.0x cheaper per token.
Meituan · Amazon · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
LongCat-Flash-Chat leads the overall LLM Stats Score 19.8 to 7.6, ranking #198 overall.
In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, LongCat-Flash-Chat wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Nova Lite is roughly 5.0x 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 LongCat-Flash-Chat
- overall performance matters — it scores 19.8 and ranks #198 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 5 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Nova Lite
- cost matters — it's about 5.0x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 300,000 token context window
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
16 reported for LongCat-Flash-Chat · 27 for Nova Lite
LongCat-Flash-Chat outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, MMLU), while Nova Lite is better at 2 benchmarks (DROP, IFEval).
LongCat-Flash-Chat has a slight edge in benchmark performance.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, LongCat-Flash-Chat ($0.30/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.06/1M tokens).
For output processing, LongCat-Flash-Chat ($1.20/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Nova Lite ($0.24/1M tokens).
In conclusion, LongCat-Flash-Chat 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 LongCat-Flash-Chat's 128,000 tokens. LongCat-Flash-Chat 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
Nova Lite supports multimodal inputs, whereas LongCat-Flash-Chat does not.
Nova Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
LongCat-Flash-Chat
Nova Lite
License
Usage and distribution terms
LongCat-Flash-Chat is licensed under MIT, while Nova Lite uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
LongCat-Flash-Chat was released on 2025-08-29, while Nova Lite was released on 2024-11-20.
LongCat-Flash-Chat is 9 months newer than Nova Lite.
Aug 29, 2025
1.1 years ago
9mo 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
LongCat-Flash-Chat is available from Meituan. Nova Lite is available from Bedrock.
LongCat-Flash-Chat
Nova Lite
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against LongCat-Flash-Chat and Nova Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about LongCat-Flash-Chat vs Nova Lite.