Nova 2 Lite vs Qwen3.5 27B vs Mistral Large 3
Too close to call on our weighted score (Nova 2 Lite 62, Qwen3.5 27B 61, Mistral Large 3 50). The right pick depends on what you value most.
AmazonNova 2 Lite
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.33 / $2.75
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 27B
61/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $2.40
- Context262K
Mistral AIMistral Large 3
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context262K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Nova 2 Lite 62/100, Qwen3.5 27B 61/100, Mistral Large 3 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Large 3 on price and Nova 2 Lite for long inputs. 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 · Qwen3.5 27B $0.825 · Nova 2 Lite $0.935 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova 2 LiteNova 2 Lite 1,000,000 · Qwen3.5 27B 262,144 · Mistral Large 3 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsNova 2 Lite and Qwen3.5 27BNova 2 Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Qwen3.5 27B: Text, Images, Audio, Video · Mistral Large 3: Text, Images
- Self-hostingQwen3.5 27B and Mistral Large 3Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Nova 2 Lite | Qwen3.5 27B | Mistral Large 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 51 | 54 | 56 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 90 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 60 | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 62/100 | 61/100 | 50/100 |
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 | Nova 2 LiteAmazon | Qwen3.5 27BAlibaba (Qwen) | Mistral Large 3Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.33 | $0.30 (best) | $0.50 |
| Output | $2.75 | $2.40 | $1.50 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.083 | — | $0.05 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.935 | $0.825 | $0.75 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Amazon Bedrock API | Official Alibaba API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | amazon.nova-2-lite-v1:0 | qwen3.5-27b | mistral-large-2512 |
| API providers | 2 | 16 (best) | 13 |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Feb 23, 2026 | Dec 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Oct 2025 | — | Nov 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Nova 2 Lite$8.80
- Qwen3.5 27B$7.80
- Mistral Large 3$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Nova 2 Lite, Qwen3.5 27B or Mistral Large 3?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Nova 2 Lite 62/100, Qwen3.5 27B 61/100, Mistral Large 3 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mistral Large 3 on price and Nova 2 Lite for long inputs. 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, Nova 2 Lite, Qwen3.5 27B or Mistral Large 3?
Mistral Large 3 is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Qwen3.5 27B costs $0.30 input / $2.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Nova 2 Lite costs $0.33 input / $2.75 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 $0.825 for Qwen3.5 27B (1.1× as much) and $0.935 for Nova 2 Lite (1.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Nova 2 Lite has not been scored yet, Qwen3.5 27B has not been scored yet and Mistral Large 3 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Nova 2 Lite, Qwen3.5 27B and Mistral Large 3 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 262,144 for Mistral Large 3. Maximum output per response: Nova 2 Lite up to 65,536, Qwen3.5 27B up to 65,536, Mistral Large 3 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Nova 2 Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Qwen3.5 27B accepts text, images, audio and video; Mistral Large 3 accepts text and images. Nova 2 Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3.5 27B and Mistral Large 3 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Nova 2 Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.5 27B is the newest, released Feb 23, 2026. Nova 2 Lite came out Dec 2, 2025; Mistral Large 3 came out Dec 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Nova 2 Lite Oct 2025, Mistral Large 3 Nov 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.
