Jamba 1.5 Mini 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.
- PriceAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 1.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $0.40 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 Jamba 1.5 Mini.
- OpennessJamba 1.5 Mini
Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); Amazon Nova Lite is API-only.
On balance Amazon Nova Lite edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Jamba 1.5 Mini's 1. Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 1.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $0.40 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, Jamba 1.5 Mini handles text while Amazon Nova Lite handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); Amazon Nova Lite is API-only.
Amazon Nova Lite is the newer of the two, released 3 months after Jamba 1.5 Mini, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Jamba 1.5 Mini is usually picked for long context and summarization 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 | Jamba 1.5 Mini | Amazon Nova Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | AI21 | Other |
| Released | Aug 2024 | Dec 2024 |
| Modalities | text | text, vision |
| Context window | 256K tokens | 300K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.20 / 1M tokens | $0.060 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $0.40 / 1M tokens | $0.24 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| Open weights | Yes (Jamba Open Model 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$1.20 vs $0.540
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$12.00 vs $5.40
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$32.40 vs $10.44
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $1.20 vs $0.540 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $12.00 vs $5.40 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $32.40 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.
- Jamba 1.5 Mini$0.040
- 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.
Jamba 1.5 Mini fits when…
- 256k context at small-model price
- Hybrid SSM-Transformer is efficient on long inputs
- Open weights for self-hosting
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Jamba Open Model License).
Amazon Nova Lite fits when…
- Very cheap
- AWS-native
- Multimodal
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 1.7× cheaper than Jamba 1.5 Mini on output tokens.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Consider Jamba 1.5 Large
AI21's hybrid SSM-Transformer with a 256k context window, strong on long-doc tasks.
Frequently asked
Is Jamba 1.5 Mini or Amazon Nova Lite cheaper?
Amazon Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.24 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $0.40 / 1M tokens for Jamba 1.5 Mini.Which has the larger context window?
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 256K for Jamba 1.5 Mini.Is Jamba 1.5 Mini or Amazon Nova Lite better for coding?
Both Jamba 1.5 Mini 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?
Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License). Amazon Nova Lite is API-only.When were Jamba 1.5 Mini and Amazon Nova Lite released?
Jamba 1.5 Mini was released by AI21 on 2024-08-22. Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
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