Claude 3.5 Haiku vs Amazon Nova Lite
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
- PriceAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 16.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $4.00 per 1M).
- Context windowAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 200K, 1.5× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesTie
Both handle text, vision.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance Amazon Nova Lite edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Claude 3.5 Haiku's 0. Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 16.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $4.00 per 1M). Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 200K, 1.5× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text, vision), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Both shipped within roughly a month of each other in 2024, so they share the same generation of training data and tooling. Claude 3.5 Haiku is usually picked for customer support and code completion workloads, while Amazon Nova Lite sees more deployments in customer support and cheapest llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude 3.5 Haiku | Amazon Nova Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Other |
| Released | Nov 2024 | Dec 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 300K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.80 / 1M tokens | $0.060 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $4.00 / 1M tokens | $0.24 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$8.40 vs $0.540
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$84.00 vs $5.40
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$144 vs $10.44
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $8.40 vs $0.540 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $84.00 vs $5.40 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $144 vs $10.44 per month, model B comes out ahead.
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Claude 3.5 Haiku$0.280
- Amazon Nova Lite$0.018
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
Claude 3.5 Haiku fits when…
- Fast
- Cheap for Anthropic
- Strong code at small size
Amazon Nova Lite fits when…
- Very cheap
- AWS-native
- Multimodal
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 16.7× cheaper than Claude 3.5 Haiku on output tokens.
Consider Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.
Frequently asked
Is Claude 3.5 Haiku or Amazon Nova Lite cheaper?
Amazon Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.24 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $4.00 / 1M tokens for Claude 3.5 Haiku.Which has the larger context window?
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 200K for Claude 3.5 Haiku.Is Claude 3.5 Haiku or Amazon Nova Lite better for coding?
Both Claude 3.5 Haiku and Amazon Nova Lite are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Neither model ships open weights, both are accessible only via their respective providers' APIs.When were Claude 3.5 Haiku and Amazon Nova Lite released?
Claude 3.5 Haiku was released by Anthropic on 2024-11-04. Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
The week's AI launches, in your inbox.
One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.