Nova Lite vs Codestral
Nova Lite comes out ahead, 77 to 48 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Nova Lite is our pick
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 77/100 against Codestral (48). 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 · Codestral $0.45 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova LiteNova Lite 300,000 · Codestral 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNova LiteNova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Codestral: Text
- Self-hostingCodestralPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Nova Lite | Codestral |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 96 | 66 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 39 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 77/100 | 48/100 |
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 LiteAmazon |  CodestralMistral AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.06 (best) | $0.30 |
| Output | $0.24 (best) | $0.90 |
| Cached input | $0.015 (best) | $0.03 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.105 (best) | $0.45 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Amazon Bedrock API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 300,000 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 10,000 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 | codestral-latest |
| API providers | 3 | 3 |
| Released | Dec 3, 2024 | May 29, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Oct 2024 | 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.
- Nova Lite$1.08
- Codestral$4.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Nova Lite or Codestral?
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 77/100 against Codestral (48). 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, Nova Lite or Codestral?
Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.06 input / $0.24 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). Codestral costs $0.30 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.105 per million tokens for Nova Lite versus $0.45 for Codestral (4.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Nova Lite has not been scored yet and Codestral has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Nova Lite and Codestral yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova Lite has the largest context window at 300,000 tokens, against 256,000 for Codestral. Maximum output per response: Nova Lite up to 10,000, Codestral up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Nova Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Codestral accepts text. Nova Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Codestral publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Nova Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Nova Lite is the newest, released Dec 3, 2024. Codestral came out May 29, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Nova Lite Oct 2024, Codestral 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.
