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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Hermes 3 70B Instruct vs Nova Lite

Nova Lite comes out ahead, 75 to 32 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Nous Research

    Hermes 3 70B Instruct

    Released Aug 18, 2024

    32/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.70 / $0.70
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Hermes 3 70B Instruct
  2. Our pick

    Amazon

    Nova Lite

    Released Dec 3, 2024

    75/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.06 / $0.24
    • Context300K
    Full specs Remove Nova Lite

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Nova Lite is our pick

Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Hermes 3 70B Instruct (32). It leads on price, inputs & features 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 LiteNova Lite $0.105 · Hermes 3 70B Instruct $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextNova LiteNova Lite 300,000 · Hermes 3 70B Instruct 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsNova LiteHermes 3 70B Instruct: Text · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
  • Self-hostingHermes 3 70B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightHermes 3 70B InstructNova Lite
Price50%5592
Inputs & features30%070
Context window20%2539
Overall100%32/10075/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Hermes 3 70B Instruct vs Nova Lite specifications side by side
SpecificationHermes 3 70B InstructNous ResearchNova LiteAmazon
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70$0.06 (best)
Output$0.70$0.24 (best)
Cached input—$0.015
Blended (3:1)$0.70$0.105 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 5 providersOfficial Amazon Bedrock API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens300,000 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens (best)10,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—amazon.nova-lite-v1:0
API providers58 (best)
ReleasedAug 18, 2024Dec 3, 2024
Knowledge cutoffDec 31, 2023Oct 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Hermes 3 70B Instruct$8.40
  • Nova Lite$1.08
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Hermes 3 70B Instruct or Nova Lite?

Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Hermes 3 70B Instruct (32). It leads on price, inputs & features 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, Hermes 3 70B Instruct or Nova Lite?

Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.06 input / $0.24 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). Hermes 3 70B Instruct costs $0.70 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.105 per million tokens for Nova Lite versus $0.70 for Hermes 3 70B Instruct (6.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Hermes 3 70B Instruct has not been scored yet and Nova Lite has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hermes 3 70B Instruct and Nova Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Hermes 3 70B Instruct does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Nova Lite has the largest context window at 300,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Hermes 3 70B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Hermes 3 70B Instruct up to 16,384, Nova Lite up to 10,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Hermes 3 70B Instruct accepts text; Nova Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Nova Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Hermes 3 70B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Nova Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Nova Lite is the newest, released Dec 3, 2024. Hermes 3 70B Instruct came out Aug 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 3 70B Instruct Dec 31, 2023, Nova Lite Oct 2024.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

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