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GPT-4o 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

GPT-4o specs · Amazon Nova Lite specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceAmazon Nova Lite

    Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 41.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $10.00 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.

  • ModalitiesGPT-4o

    GPT-4o supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 2 for Amazon Nova Lite.

  • OpennessTie

    Both are closed-weight, API-only.

On balance Amazon Nova Lite edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against GPT-4o's 1. Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 41.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $10.00 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, GPT-4o handles text, vision, audio while Amazon Nova Lite handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.

Amazon Nova Lite is the newer of the two, released 7 months after GPT-4o, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-4o is usually picked for chatbots and vision 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

SpecGPT-4oAmazon Nova Lite
ProviderOpenAIOther
ReleasedMay 2024Dec 2024
Modalitiestext, vision, audiotext, vision
Context window128K tokens300K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$2.50 / 1M tokens$0.060 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$10.00 / 1M tokens$0.24 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff2023-10,
Open weightsNoNo
API availableYesYes

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$22.50 vs $0.540
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$225 vs $5.40
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$435 vs $10.44

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $22.50 vs $0.540 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $225 vs $5.40 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $435 vs $10.44 per month, model B comes out ahead.

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • GPT-4o$0.750
  • 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.

GPT-4oAmazon Nova Lite
  • MMLU88.7
  • HumanEval90.2
Pick GPT-4o if

GPT-4o fits when…

  • Native multimodal
  • Mature SDK and tooling
  • Multimodal needs covering audio.
Pick Amazon Nova Lite if

Amazon Nova Lite fits when…

  • Very cheap
  • AWS-native
  • Multimodal
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 41.7× cheaper than GPT-4o on output tokens.
  • Long-context tasks, handles 300K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o.
Don't want either?

Consider GPT-5.5

OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.

See GPT-5.5 specsGPT-4o vs GPT-5.5Amazon Nova Lite vs GPT-5.5

Frequently asked

  • Is GPT-4o or Amazon Nova Lite cheaper?
    Amazon Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.24 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $10.00 / 1M tokens for GPT-4o.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o.
  • Is GPT-4o or Amazon Nova Lite better for coding?
    Both GPT-4o 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 GPT-4o and Amazon Nova Lite released?
    GPT-4o was released by OpenAI on 2024-05-13. Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
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