Model Comparison
Nova Lite vs Qwen3 235B A22BWhich is better in 2026?
Qwen3 235B A22B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Qwen3 235B A22B is 1.0x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Nova Lite vs Qwen3 235B A22B — which is better?
Nova Lite (by Amazon) and Qwen3 235B A22B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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.
Nova Lite outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GSM8k, MATH), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 4 benchmarks (BBH, BFCL, GPQA, MMLU). Qwen3 235B A22B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Nova Lite also accepts a larger context window (300,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Nova Lite if…
- you process long inputs — it offers a 300,000 token context window
Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 6 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Nova Lite outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GSM8k, MATH), while Qwen3 235B A22B is better at 4 benchmarks (BBH, BFCL, GPQA, MMLU).
Qwen3 235B A22B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Nova Lite ($0.06/1M tokens) is 1.7x cheaper than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Nova Lite ($0.24/1M tokens) is 2.4x more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B ($0.10/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Nova Lite is more expensive than Qwen3 235B A22B.*
* 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 Qwen3 235B A22B's 128,000 tokens. Qwen3 235B A22B 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 Qwen3 235B A22B does not.
Nova Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Nova Lite
Qwen3 235B A22B
License
Usage and distribution terms
Nova Lite is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 235B A22B uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Nova Lite was released on 2024-11-20, while Qwen3 235B A22B was released on 2025-04-29.
Qwen3 235B A22B is 5 months newer than Nova Lite.
Nov 20, 2024
1.6 years ago
Apr 29, 2025
1.1 years ago
5mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Nova Lite is available from Bedrock. Qwen3 235B A22B is available from Fireworks, DeepInfra, Novita, Together.
Nova Lite
Qwen3 235B A22B
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Nova Lite
View detailsAmazon
Qwen3 235B A22B
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Nova Lite vs Qwen3 235B A22B.