Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Amazon Nova Micro
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
- PriceAmazon Nova Micro
Amazon Nova Micro is roughly 107.1× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $15.00 per 1M).
- Context windowClaude 3.5 Sonnet
Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× 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.
- ModalitiesClaude 3.5 Sonnet
Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Amazon Nova Micro.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance Claude 3.5 Sonnet edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Amazon Nova Micro's 1. Amazon Nova Micro is roughly 107.1× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $15.00 per 1M). Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Claude 3.5 Sonnet handles text, vision while Amazon Nova Micro handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Amazon Nova Micro is the newer of the two, released 1 months after Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is usually picked for coding llm and code review workloads, while Amazon Nova Micro sees more deployments in cheapest llm and fastest 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 Sonnet | Amazon Nova Micro |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Other |
| Released | Oct 2024 | Dec 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $3.00 / 1M tokens | $0.035 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | $0.14 / 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$31.50 vs $0.315
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$315 vs $3.15
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$540 vs $6.09
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $31.50 vs $0.315 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $315 vs $3.15 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $540 vs $6.09 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 Sonnet$1.05
- Amazon Nova Micro$0.011
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- HumanEval92.0
Claude 3.5 Sonnet fits when…
- Mature and battle-tested
- Strong code
- Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 128K for Amazon Nova Micro.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Amazon Nova Micro fits when…
- Lowest-cost frontier-lab model
- Native AWS integration
- Generous 128k context for the price tier
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 107.1× cheaper than Claude 3.5 Sonnet 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 Sonnet or Amazon Nova Micro cheaper?
Amazon Nova Micro is cheaper at $0.14 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $15.00 / 1M tokens for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.Which has the larger context window?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts 200K tokens vs 128K for Amazon Nova Micro.Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Amazon Nova Micro better for coding?
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Amazon Nova Micro 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 Sonnet and Amazon Nova Micro released?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released by Anthropic on 2024-10-22. Amazon Nova Micro was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
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