LLM·Dex
Newsletter

Amazon Nova Lite vs Sonar Large

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 · Sonar Large specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceAmazon Nova Lite

    Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 4.2× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $1.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowAmazon Nova Lite

    Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 127K, 2.4× 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 Sonar Large.

  • OpennessTie

    Both are closed-weight, API-only.

On balance Amazon Nova Lite edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Sonar Large's 0. Amazon Nova Lite is roughly 4.2× cheaper on output tokens ($0.24 vs $1.00 per 1M). Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 127K, 2.4× 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 Sonar Large handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.

Both shipped within roughly a month of each other in 2024, so they share the same generation of training data and tooling. Amazon Nova Lite is usually picked for customer support and cheapest llm workloads, while Sonar Large sees more deployments in research agent and rag. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecAmazon Nova LiteSonar Large
ProviderOtherPerplexity
ReleasedDec 2024Nov 2024
Modalitiestext, visiontext
Context window300K tokens127K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$0.060 / 1M tokens$1.00 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$0.24 / 1M tokens$1.00 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
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$0.540 vs $4.50
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$5.40 vs $45.00
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$10.44 vs $156

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $0.540 vs $4.50 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $5.40 vs $45.00 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $10.44 vs $156 per month, model A 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.

  • Amazon Nova Lite$0.018
  • Sonar Large$0.150

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick Amazon Nova Lite if

Amazon Nova Lite fits when…

  • Very cheap
  • AWS-native
  • Multimodal
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 4.2× cheaper than Sonar Large on output tokens.
  • Long-context tasks, handles 300K tokens vs 127K for Sonar Large.
Pick Sonar Large if

Sonar Large fits when…

  • Web-search grounded
  • Citation-first output
  • Cheap
Don't want either?

Consider DBRX

Databricks' 132B MoE, a notable 2024 open-weight release tuned for enterprise.

See DBRX specsAmazon Nova Lite vs DBRXSonar Large vs DBRX

Frequently asked

  • Is Amazon Nova Lite or Sonar Large cheaper?
    Amazon Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.24 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $1.00 / 1M tokens for Sonar Large.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 127K for Sonar Large.
  • Is Amazon Nova Lite or Sonar Large better for coding?
    Both Amazon Nova Lite and Sonar Large 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 Sonar Large released?
    Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03. Sonar Large was released by Perplexity on 2024-11-19.
Friday digest

The week's AI launches, in your inbox.

One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.