Mistral Large 3 vs Nova 2 Lite vs Nova Premier
Nova 2 Lite comes out ahead, 62 to 50 and 41 on our weighted score, though Mistral Large 3 is 20% cheaper per token.
Mistral AI
Mistral Large 3
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context262K
- Our pick
Amazon
Nova 2 Lite
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.33 / $2.75
- Context1M
Amazon
Nova Premier
41/100- ECI—
- Price$2.50 / $12.50
- 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 Nova Premier (41). It leads on inputs & features. 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 · Nova Premier $5.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova 2 Lite and Nova PremierNova 2 Lite 1,000,000 · Nova Premier 1,000,000 · Mistral Large 3 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsNova 2 Lite and Nova PremierMistral Large 3: Text, Images · Nova 2 Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Nova Premier: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingMistral Large 3Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Mistral Large 3 | Nova 2 Lite | Nova Premier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 56 | 51 | 17 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 80 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 60 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 62/100 | 41/100 |
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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 | $0.33 (best) | $2.50 |
| Output | $1.50 (best) | $2.75 | $12.50 |
| Cached input | $0.05 (best) | $0.083 | $0.625 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.75 (best) | $0.935 | $5.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Mistral API | Official Amazon Bedrock API | Official Amazon Bedrock API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens | 10,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yeslow · medium · high | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | mistral-large-2512 | amazon.nova-2-lite-v1:0 | us.amazon.nova-premier-v1:0 |
| API providers | 13 (best) | 2 | 1 |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Dec 2, 2025 | Apr 30, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Nov 2024 | Oct 2025 | Oct 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
Mistral Large 3$8.00
Nova 2 Lite$8.80
Nova Premier$50.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Mistral Large 3, Nova 2 Lite or Nova Premier?
Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Mistral Large 3 (50) and Nova Premier (41). It leads on inputs & features. 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, Mistral Large 3, Nova 2 Lite or Nova Premier?
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); Nova Premier costs $2.50 input / $12.50 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). 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 $5.00 for Nova Premier (6.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Mistral Large 3 has not been scored yet, Nova 2 Lite has not been scored yet and Nova Premier has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Large 3, Nova 2 Lite and Nova Premier 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 and Nova Premier have the largest context windows (1,000,000 and 1,000,000 tokens), against 262,144 for Mistral Large 3. Maximum output per response: Mistral Large 3 up to 262,144, Nova 2 Lite up to 65,536, Nova Premier up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Mistral Large 3 accepts text and images; Nova 2 Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Nova Premier accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Nova 2 Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Mistral Large 3 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Nova 2 Lite and Nova Premier is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Mistral Large 3 is the newest, released Dec 2, 2025. Nova 2 Lite came out Dec 2, 2025; Nova Premier came out Apr 30, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 3 Nov 2024, Nova 2 Lite Oct 2025, Nova Premier 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 Oct 4, 2026.