Aion-3.0-Mini vs Nova 2 Lite vs Qwen3.5 27B
Nova 2 Lite comes out ahead, 61 to 57 and 41 on our weighted score, though Qwen3.5 27B is 8% cheaper per token.
Aion Labs
Aion-3.0-Mini
41/100- ECI—
- Price$0.70 / $1.40
- Context131K
- Our pick
AmazonNova 2 Lite
61/100- ECI—
- Price$0.315 / $2.63
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 27B
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $2.40
- Context262K
Nova 2 Lite is our pick
Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Qwen3.5 27B (57) and Aion-3.0-Mini (41). It leads on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceQwen3.5 27BQwen3.5 27B $0.825 · Aion-3.0-Mini $0.875 · Nova 2 Lite $0.892 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova 2 LiteNova 2 Lite 1,000,000 · Qwen3.5 27B 262,144 · Aion-3.0-Mini 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsNova 2 LiteAion-3.0-Mini: Text · Nova 2 Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Qwen3.5 27B: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3.5 27BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Aion-3.0-Mini | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen3.5 27B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 50 | 50 | 52 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 80 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 60 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 41/100 | 61/100 | 57/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Aion-3.0-MiniAion Labs | Nova 2 LiteAmazon | Qwen3.5 27BAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.70 | $0.315 | $0.30 (best) |
| Output | $1.40 (best) | $2.63 | $2.40 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.875 | $0.892 | $0.825 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 4 providers | Median of 6 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | — | nova-2-lite-v1 | qwen3.5-27b |
| API providers | 4 | 8 | 19 (best) |
| Released | May 14, 2026 | Dec 2, 2025 | Feb 23, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Oct 2025 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Aion-3.0-Mini$9.80
- Nova 2 Lite$8.40
- Qwen3.5 27B$7.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Aion-3.0-Mini, Nova 2 Lite or Qwen3.5 27B?
Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Qwen3.5 27B (57) and Aion-3.0-Mini (41). It leads on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Aion-3.0-Mini, Nova 2 Lite or Qwen3.5 27B?
Qwen3.5 27B is cheaper at $0.30 input / $2.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Aion-3.0-Mini costs $0.70 input / $1.40 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers); Nova 2 Lite costs $0.315 input / $2.63 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers; free on Nova). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.825 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 27B versus $0.875 for Aion-3.0-Mini (1.1× as much) and $0.892 for Nova 2 Lite (1.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Aion-3.0-Mini has not been scored yet, Nova 2 Lite has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 27B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Aion-3.0-Mini, Nova 2 Lite and Qwen3.5 27B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.5 27B and 131,072 for Aion-3.0-Mini. Maximum output per response: Aion-3.0-Mini up to 32,768, Nova 2 Lite up to 65,536, Qwen3.5 27B up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Aion-3.0-Mini accepts text; Nova 2 Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Qwen3.5 27B accepts text, images and video. Nova 2 Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3.5 27B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Aion-3.0-Mini and Nova 2 Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Aion-3.0-Mini is the newest, released May 14, 2026. Qwen3.5 27B came out Feb 23, 2026; Nova 2 Lite came out Dec 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Nova 2 Lite Oct 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
