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GPT-5 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-5 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 windowGPT-5

    GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 300K, 1.3× 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-5

    GPT-5 supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 2 for Amazon Nova Lite.

  • OpennessTie

    Both are closed-weight, API-only.

On balance GPT-5 edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Amazon Nova Lite's 1. Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 41.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $10.00 per 1M). GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 300K, 1.3× 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-5 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.

GPT-5 is the newer of the two, released 8 months after Amazon Nova Lite, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-5 is usually picked for coding llm and agents 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-5Amazon Nova Lite
ProviderOpenAIOther
ReleasedAug 2025Dec 2024
Modalitiestext, vision, audiotext, vision
Context window400K tokens300K tokens
Max output128K tokens,
Input · 1M$1.25 / 1M tokens$0.060 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$10.00 / 1M tokens$0.24 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff2024-09,
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$18.75 vs $0.540
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$188 vs $5.40
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$248 vs $10.44

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $18.75 vs $0.540 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $188 vs $5.40 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $248 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-5$0.625
  • 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-5Amazon Nova Lite
  • MMLU91.4
  • HumanEval96.2
  • GPQA89.4
  • SWE-bench Verified74.9
Pick GPT-5 if

GPT-5 fits when…

  • Unified model, reasoning routed automatically per query
  • Excellent tool-use and JSON-mode discipline
  • Strong agent performance on SWE-bench Verified
  • 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-5 on output tokens.
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-5 vs GPT-5.5Amazon Nova Lite vs GPT-5.5

Frequently asked

  • Is GPT-5 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-5.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 300K for Amazon Nova Lite.
  • Is GPT-5 or Amazon Nova Lite better for coding?
    Both GPT-5 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-5 and Amazon Nova Lite released?
    GPT-5 was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07. Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
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