Amazon Nova Lite vs o3-mini
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Amazon Nova Lite specs · o3-mini specs- PriceAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 18.3× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $4.40 per 1M).
- Context windowAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 200K, 1.5× 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 o3-mini.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance Amazon Nova Lite edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against o3-mini's 0. Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 18.3× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $4.40 per 1M). Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 200K, 1.5× 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, Amazon Nova Lite handles text, vision while o3-mini handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
o3-mini is the newer of the two, released 2 months after Amazon Nova Lite, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Amazon Nova Lite is usually picked for customer support and cheapest llm workloads, while o3-mini sees more deployments in reasoning and math. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Amazon Nova Lite | o3-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Other | OpenAI |
| Released | Dec 2024 | Jan 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 300K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.060 / 1M tokens | $1.10 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $0.24 / 1M tokens | $4.40 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | 2023-10 |
| 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$0.540 vs $9.90
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$5.40 vs $99.00
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$10.44 vs $191
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $0.540 vs $9.90 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $5.40 vs $99.00 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $10.44 vs $191 per month, model A comes out ahead.
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Amazon Nova Lite$0.018
- o3-mini$0.330
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- GPQA,79.7
Amazon Nova Lite fits when…
- Very cheap
- AWS-native
- Multimodal
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 18.3× cheaper than o3-mini on output tokens.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
o3-mini fits when…
- Reasoning at mid-tier cost
- Fast for a thinking model
Consider DBRX
Databricks' 132B MoE, a notable 2024 open-weight release tuned for enterprise.
Frequently asked
Is Amazon Nova Lite or o3-mini cheaper?
Amazon Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.24 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $4.40 / 1M tokens for o3-mini.Which has the larger context window?
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 200K for o3-mini.Is Amazon Nova Lite or o3-mini better for coding?
Both Amazon Nova Lite and o3-mini 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 Amazon Nova Lite and o3-mini released?
Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03. o3-mini was released by OpenAI on 2025-01-31.
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