Apertus 70B vs Mistral Large 3 vs Nova 2 Lite
Nova 2 Lite comes out ahead, 62 to 50 and 33 on our weighted score, though Mistral Large 3 is 20% cheaper per token.
Swiss AI
Apertus 70B
33/100- ECI—
- Price$0.82 / $2.42
- Context66K
Mistral AIMistral Large 3
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context262K
- Our pick
AmazonNova 2 Lite
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.33 / $2.75
- Context1M
Nova 2 Lite is our pick
Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Mistral Large 3 (50) and Apertus 70B (33). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Mistral Large 3 wins on price. 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 priceMistral Large 3Mistral Large 3 $0.75 · Nova 2 Lite $0.935 · Apertus 70B $1.22 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova 2 LiteNova 2 Lite 1,000,000 · Mistral Large 3 262,144 · Apertus 70B 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsNova 2 LiteApertus 70B: Text · Mistral Large 3: Text, Images · Nova 2 Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingApertus 70B and Mistral Large 3Publishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Apertus 70B | Mistral Large 3 | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 46 | 56 | 51 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 50 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 12 | 37 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 33/100 | 50/100 | 62/100 |
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 | Apertus 70BSwiss AI | Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | Nova 2 LiteAmazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.82 | $0.50 | $0.33 (best) |
| Output | $2.42 | $1.50 (best) | $2.75 |
| Cached input | — | $0.05 (best) | $0.083 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.22 | $0.75 (best) | $0.935 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 3 providers | Official Mistral API | Official Amazon Bedrock API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 65,536 tokens | 262,144 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yeslow · medium · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | mistral-large-2512 | amazon.nova-2-lite-v1:0 |
| API providers | 3 | 13 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Sep 2, 2025 | Dec 2, 2025 | Dec 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2025 | Nov 2024 | 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.
- Apertus 70B$13.04
- Mistral Large 3$8.00
- Nova 2 Lite$8.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Apertus 70B, Mistral Large 3 or Nova 2 Lite?
Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Mistral Large 3 (50) and Apertus 70B (33). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Mistral Large 3 wins on price. 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, Apertus 70B, Mistral Large 3 or Nova 2 Lite?
Mistral Large 3 is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Nova 2 Lite costs $0.33 input / $2.75 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price); Apertus 70B costs $0.82 input / $2.42 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.75 per million tokens for Mistral Large 3 versus $0.935 for Nova 2 Lite (1.2× as much) and $1.22 for Apertus 70B (1.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Apertus 70B has not been scored yet, Mistral Large 3 has not been scored yet and Nova 2 Lite has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Apertus 70B, Mistral Large 3 and Nova 2 Lite 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 Mistral Large 3 and 65,536 for Apertus 70B. Maximum output per response: Apertus 70B up to 8,192, Mistral Large 3 up to 262,144, Nova 2 Lite up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Apertus 70B accepts text; Mistral Large 3 accepts text and images; Nova 2 Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Nova 2 Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Apertus 70B and Mistral Large 3 publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Nova 2 Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Mistral Large 3 is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Nova 2 Lite came out Dec 2, 2025; Apertus 70B came out Sep 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Apertus 70B Sep 2025, Mistral Large 3 Nov 2024, 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 Oct 4, 2026.
