Claude Sonnet 4 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 62.5× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $15.00 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 Sonnet 4's 0. Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 62.5× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $15.00 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.
Claude Sonnet 4 is the newer of the two, released 6 months after Amazon Nova Lite, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude Sonnet 4 is usually picked for coding llm and rag 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 Sonnet 4 | Amazon Nova Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Other |
| Released | May 2025 | Dec 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 300K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $3.00 / 1M tokens | $0.060 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | $0.24 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-03 | , |
| 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 $0.540
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$315 vs $5.40
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$540 vs $10.44
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $31.50 vs $0.540 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $315 vs $5.40 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $540 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 Sonnet 4$1.05
- 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.
- SWE-bench Verified65.0
Claude Sonnet 4 fits when…
- Solid all-rounder
- Mature deployment ecosystem
Amazon Nova Lite fits when…
- Very cheap
- AWS-native
- Multimodal
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 62.5× cheaper than Claude Sonnet 4 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 Sonnet 4 or Amazon Nova Lite cheaper?
Amazon Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.24 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $15.00 / 1M tokens for Claude Sonnet 4.Which has the larger context window?
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.Is Claude Sonnet 4 or Amazon Nova Lite better for coding?
Both Claude Sonnet 4 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 Sonnet 4 and Amazon Nova Lite released?
Claude Sonnet 4 was released by Anthropic on 2025-05-22. Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
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