Command R 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
Command R specs · Amazon Nova Lite specs- PriceAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 6.3× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $1.50 per 1M).
- Context windowAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 128K, 2.3× 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 Command R.
- OpennessCommand R
Command R ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0); Amazon Nova Lite is API-only.
On balance Amazon Nova Lite edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Command R's 1. Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 6.3× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $1.50 per 1M). Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 128K, 2.3× 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, Command R handles text while Amazon Nova Lite handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Command R ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0); Amazon Nova Lite is API-only.
Amazon Nova Lite is the newer of the two, released 9 months after Command R, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Command R is usually picked for rag and customer support 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 | Command R | Amazon Nova Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Cohere | Other |
| Released | Mar 2024 | Dec 2024 |
| Modalities | text | text, vision |
| Context window | 128K tokens | 300K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.50 / 1M tokens | $0.060 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $1.50 / 1M tokens | $0.24 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| Open weights | Yes (CC-BY-NC 4.0) | 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$3.75 vs $0.540
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$37.50 vs $5.40
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$84.00 vs $10.44
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $3.75 vs $0.540 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $37.50 vs $5.40 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $84.00 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.
- Command R$0.125
- 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.
Command R fits when…
- Cheap RAG
- Reliable tool-use
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0).
Amazon Nova Lite fits when…
- Very cheap
- AWS-native
- Multimodal
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 6.3× cheaper than Command R on output tokens.
- Long-context tasks, handles 300K tokens vs 128K for Command R.
Consider Command R+ (08-2024)
Cohere's flagship optimized for RAG and tool use in enterprise settings.
Frequently asked
Is Command R or Amazon Nova Lite cheaper?
Amazon Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.24 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $1.50 / 1M tokens for Command R.Which has the larger context window?
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 128K for Command R.Is Command R or Amazon Nova Lite better for coding?
Both Command R 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?
Command R ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0). Amazon Nova Lite is API-only.When were Command R and Amazon Nova Lite released?
Command R was released by Cohere on 2024-03-11. Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
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