Grok 2 vs Amazon Nova Micro
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Grok 2 specs · Amazon Nova Micro specs- PriceAmazon Nova Micro
Amazon Nova Micro publishes pricing ($0.14 / 1M output tokens) while Grok 2 does not.
- Context windowTie
Both ship a 128K-token context window.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesGrok 2
Grok 2 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Amazon Nova Micro.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
It's a genuine coin-flip between Grok 2 and Amazon Nova Micro: 1 category wins each, with the rest tied. Amazon Nova Micro publishes pricing ($0.14 / 1M output tokens) while Grok 2 does not. Both ship a 128K-token context window.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Grok 2 handles text, vision while Amazon Nova Micro handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Amazon Nova Micro is the newer of the two, released 4 months after Grok 2, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Grok 2 is usually picked for chatbots workloads, while Amazon Nova Micro sees more deployments in cheapest llm and fastest llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Grok 2 | Amazon Nova Micro |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | Other |
| Released | Aug 2024 | Dec 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 128K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | Pricing not published | $0.035 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | Pricing not published | $0.14 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| 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, vs $0.315
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs $3.15
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs $6.09
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Grok 2Pricing unavailable
- Amazon Nova Micro$0.011
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
Grok 2 fits when…
- Free on X Premium
- Real-time data
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Amazon Nova Micro fits when…
- Lowest-cost frontier-lab model
- Native AWS integration
- Generous 128k context for the price tier
Consider Grok 4
xAI's mid-2025 flagship, top scores on Humanity's Last Exam at launch, with native real-time X integration.
Frequently asked
Is Grok 2 or Amazon Nova Micro cheaper?
Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.Which has the larger context window?
Both Grok 2 and Amazon Nova Micro ship a 128K-token context window.Is Grok 2 or Amazon Nova Micro better for coding?
Both Grok 2 and Amazon Nova Micro 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 Grok 2 and Amazon Nova Micro released?
Grok 2 was released by xAI on 2024-08-13. Amazon Nova Micro was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
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