Model Comparison
LongCat-Flash-Thinking vs Nova 2 LiteWhich is better in 2026?
LongCat-Flash-Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Thinking is 1.6x cheaper per token.
Verdict: LongCat-Flash-Thinking vs Nova 2 Lite — which is better?
LongCat-Flash-Thinking (by Meituan) and Nova 2 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.
LongCat-Flash-Thinking outperforms in 5 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench, MMLU-Pro, Tau2 Airline, Tau2 Telecom), while Nova 2 Lite is better at 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, SWE-Bench Verified, Tau2 Retail). LongCat-Flash-Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, LongCat-Flash-Thinking is roughly 1.6x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Nova 2 Lite also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose LongCat-Flash-Thinking if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 8 shared benchmarks
- cost matters — it's about 1.6x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Nova 2 Lite if…
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
LongCat-Flash-Thinking outperforms in 5 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench, MMLU-Pro, Tau2 Airline, Tau2 Telecom), while Nova 2 Lite is better at 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, SWE-Bench Verified, Tau2 Retail).
LongCat-Flash-Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, LongCat-Flash-Thinking ($0.30/1M tokens) costs the same as Nova 2 Lite ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, LongCat-Flash-Thinking ($1.20/1M tokens) is 2.1x cheaper than Nova 2 Lite ($2.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Nova 2 Lite is more expensive than LongCat-Flash-Thinking.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Nova 2 Lite accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to LongCat-Flash-Thinking's 128,000 tokens. LongCat-Flash-Thinking can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Nova 2 Lite is limited to 65,536 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Nova 2 Lite supports multimodal inputs, whereas LongCat-Flash-Thinking does not.
Nova 2 Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
LongCat-Flash-Thinking
Nova 2 Lite
License
Usage and distribution terms
LongCat-Flash-Thinking is licensed under MIT, while Nova 2 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-Thinking was released on 2025-09-22, while Nova 2 Lite was released on 2025-12-02.
Nova 2 Lite is 2 months newer than LongCat-Flash-Thinking.
Sep 22, 2025
10 months ago
Dec 2, 2025
7 months ago
2mo newerKnowledge 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-Thinking is available from Meituan. Nova 2 Lite is available from Bedrock.
LongCat-Flash-Thinking
Nova 2 Lite
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Nova 2 Lite
View detailsAmazon
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against LongCat-Flash-Thinking and Nova 2 Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about LongCat-Flash-Thinking vs Nova 2 Lite.