AI model comparison
Nova 2 Lite vs R1
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Amazon
Nova 2 Lite
Nova 2 Lite is a fast, cost-effective reasoning model for everyday workloads that can process text, images, and videos to generate text.
- Input / 1M
- $0.30
- Output / 1M
- $2.50
- Context
- 1M
DeepSeek
R1
DeepSeek R1 is here: Performance on par with [OpenAI o1](/openai/o1), but open-sourced and with fully open reasoning tokens.
- Input / 1M
- $0.70
- Output / 1M
- $2.50
- Context
- 64K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Nova 2 Lite
1.4x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Nova 2 Lite
13.4 vs 11.4 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Nova 2 Lite
1M vs 64K tokens
Newer release
Nova 2 Lite
Released December 2, 2025
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Nova 2 Lite13.4R111.4Coding index
Nova 2 Lite23R124.6Agentic index
Nova 2 LiteNot availableR11.1Pricing
Nova 2 Lite vs R1 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Nova 2 Lite | R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.30 | $0.70 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $2.50 | $2.50 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Nova 2 Lite$1.85R1$2.65Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Nova 2 Lite$19R1$31Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Nova 2 Lite$50R1$110Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Nova 2 Lite | R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1M tokens | 64K tokens |
| Max output | 66K tokens | 16K tokens |
| Input types | File, Image, Text, Video | Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | December 2, 2025 | January 20, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Nova 2 Lite | R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Not supported | Not supported |
| JSON mode | Not supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Not supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Our take
Nova 2 Lite is 1.4x cheaper for a typical chat. Nova 2 Lite scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (13.4 vs 11.4). Nova 2 Lite has the larger context window (1M vs 64K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Nova 2 Lite or R1 cheaper?
Nova 2 Lite is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Nova 2 Lite costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens, while R1 costs $0.70 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Nova 2 Lite or R1?
Nova 2 Lite supports up to 1M tokens of context, compared with 64K for R1.
Is Nova 2 Lite smarter than R1?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Nova 2 Lite scores 13.4 and R1 scores 11.4, putting Nova 2 Lite ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Nova 2 Lite and R1 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Nova 2 Lite and R1 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Nova 2 Lite and R1 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.