Amazon Nova Lite vs Yi-Lightning
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 · Yi-Lightning specs- PriceYi-Lightning
Yi-Lightning is roughly 1.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $0.24 per 1M).
- Context windowAmazon Nova Lite
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 16K, 18.8× 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 Yi-Lightning.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance Amazon Nova Lite edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Yi-Lightning's 1. Yi-Lightning is roughly 1.7× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $0.24 per 1M). Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 16K, 18.8× 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 Yi-Lightning handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Amazon Nova Lite is the newer of the two, released 2 months after Yi-Lightning, 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 Yi-Lightning sees more deployments in chinese llm 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 | Amazon Nova Lite | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Other | Other |
| Released | Dec 2024 | Oct 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 300K tokens | 16K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.060 / 1M tokens | $0.14 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $0.24 / 1M tokens | $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$0.540 vs $0.630
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$5.40 vs $6.30
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$10.44 vs $21.84
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $0.540 vs $0.630 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $5.40 vs $6.30 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $10.44 vs $21.84 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
- Yi-Lightning$0.021
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
Amazon Nova Lite fits when…
- Very cheap
- AWS-native
- Multimodal
- Long-context tasks, handles 300K tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Yi-Lightning fits when…
- Cheap
- Strong Chinese
- Fast
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 1.7× cheaper than Amazon Nova Lite on output tokens.
Consider DBRX
Databricks' 132B MoE, a notable 2024 open-weight release tuned for enterprise.
Frequently asked
Is Amazon Nova Lite or Yi-Lightning cheaper?
Yi-Lightning is cheaper at $0.14 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $0.24 / 1M tokens for Amazon Nova Lite.Which has the larger context window?
Amazon Nova Lite accepts 300K tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.Is Amazon Nova Lite or Yi-Lightning better for coding?
Both Amazon Nova Lite and Yi-Lightning 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 Yi-Lightning released?
Amazon Nova Lite was released by Other on 2024-12-03. Yi-Lightning was released by Other on 2024-10-16.
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