Grok Build 0.1 vs Nova 2 Lite vs Qwen3.5 122B-A10B
Nova 2 Lite comes out ahead, 61 to 54 and 53 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
xAIGrok Build 0.1
53/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $2.00
- Context256K
- Our pick
AmazonNova 2 Lite
61/100- ECI—
- Price$0.315 / $2.63
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 122B-A10B
54/100- ECI—
- Price$0.40 / $3.20
- Context262K
Nova 2 Lite is our pick
Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Qwen3.5 122B-A10B (54) and Grok Build 0.1 (53). It leads on price and 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 priceNova 2 LiteNova 2 Lite $0.892 · Qwen3.5 122B-A10B $1.10 · Grok Build 0.1 $1.25 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova 2 LiteNova 2 Lite 1,000,000 · Qwen3.5 122B-A10B 262,144 · Grok Build 0.1 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNova 2 LiteGrok Build 0.1: Text, Images, PDFs · Nova 2 Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Qwen3.5 122B-A10B: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3.5 122B-A10BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Grok Build 0.1 | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen3.5 122B-A10B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 43 | 50 | 46 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 80 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 60 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 53/100 | 61/100 | 54/100 |
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 | Grok Build 0.1xAI | Nova 2 LiteAmazon | Qwen3.5 122B-A10BAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.00 | $0.315 (best) | $0.40 |
| Output | $2.00 (best) | $2.63 | $3.20 |
| Cached input | $0.20 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.25 | $0.892 (best) | $1.10 |
| Long-context rate | Over 200K: $2.00 / $4.00 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official xAI API | Median of 6 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 256,000 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | grok-build-0.1 | nova-2-lite-v1 | qwen3.5-122b-a10b |
| API providers | 20 | 8 | 22 (best) |
| Released | Apr 16, 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.
- Grok Build 0.1$14.00
- Nova 2 Lite$8.40
- Qwen3.5 122B-A10B$10.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok Build 0.1, Nova 2 Lite or Qwen3.5 122B-A10B?
Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Qwen3.5 122B-A10B (54) and Grok Build 0.1 (53). It leads on price and 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, Grok Build 0.1, Nova 2 Lite or Qwen3.5 122B-A10B?
Nova 2 Lite is cheaper at $0.315 input / $2.63 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers; free on Nova). Qwen3.5 122B-A10B costs $0.40 input / $3.20 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Grok Build 0.1 costs $1.00 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.892 per million tokens for Nova 2 Lite versus $1.10 for Qwen3.5 122B-A10B (1.2× as much) and $1.25 for Grok Build 0.1 (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Grok Build 0.1 has not been scored yet, Nova 2 Lite has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 122B-A10B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok Build 0.1, Nova 2 Lite and Qwen3.5 122B-A10B 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 122B-A10B and 256,000 for Grok Build 0.1. Maximum output per response: Grok Build 0.1 up to 256,000, Nova 2 Lite up to 65,536, Qwen3.5 122B-A10B up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Grok Build 0.1 accepts text, images and PDFs; Nova 2 Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Qwen3.5 122B-A10B accepts text, images and video. Nova 2 Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3.5 122B-A10B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Grok Build 0.1 and Nova 2 Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok Build 0.1 is the newest, released Apr 16, 2026. Qwen3.5 122B-A10B 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.
