Codestral 2 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.
Updated
Codestral 2 specs · Amazon Nova Lite specs- PriceAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 3.8× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $0.90 per 1M).
- Context windowAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 256K, 1.2× 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.
- ModalitiesAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Codestral 2.
- OpennessCodestral 2
Codestral 2 ships open weights (Mistral Non-Production License); Amazon Nova Lite is API-only.
On balance Amazon Nova Lite edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Codestral 2's 1. Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 3.8× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $0.90 per 1M). Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 256K, 1.2× 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, Codestral 2 handles text while Amazon Nova Lite handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Codestral 2 ships open weights (Mistral Non-Production License); Amazon Nova Lite is API-only.
Codestral 2 is the newer of the two, released 1 months after Amazon Nova Lite, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Codestral 2 is usually picked for code completion and coding llm 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 | Codestral 2 | Amazon Nova Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Mistral | Other |
| Released | Jan 2025 | Dec 2024 |
| Modalities | text | text, vision |
| Context window | 256K tokens | 300K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.30 / 1M tokens | $0.060 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $0.90 / 1M tokens | $0.24 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| Open weights | Yes (Mistral Non-Production License) | 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$2.25 vs $0.540
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$22.50 vs $5.40
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$50.40 vs $10.44
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $2.25 vs $0.540 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $22.50 vs $5.40 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $50.40 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.
- Codestral 2$0.075
- 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.
- HumanEval92.0
Codestral 2 fits when…
- Fast inline completion
- FIM support
- Self-hostable for IP-sensitive teams
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Mistral Non-Production License).
Amazon Nova Lite fits when…
- Very cheap
- AWS-native
- Multimodal
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 3.8× cheaper than Codestral 2 on output tokens.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Consider Mistral Large 2
Mistral's flagship API model, strong on code and reasoning, EU-friendly hosting.
Frequently asked
Is Codestral 2 or Amazon Nova Lite cheaper?
Amazon Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.24 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $0.90 / 1M tokens for Codestral 2.Which has the larger context window?
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 256K for Codestral 2.Is Codestral 2 or Amazon Nova Lite better for coding?
Both Codestral 2 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?
Codestral 2 ships open weights (Mistral Non-Production License). Amazon Nova Lite is API-only.When were Codestral 2 and Amazon Nova Lite released?
Codestral 2 was released by Mistral on 2025-01-14. Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
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