Gemma 4 26B A4B vs Nova 2.0 Lite
Head-to-head specifications
| Metric | Gemma 4 26B A4B | Nova 2.0 Lite | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence Index | 25.0 | 24.0 | +4.2% |
| Coding Index | 39.3 | 23.0 | +70.9% |
| Agentic Index | 11.0 | 3.1 | — |
| Context window | 400K tokens | 1M tokens | — |
| Blended price ($/1M tokens) | $0.13 | $0.43 | -69.8% |
| Output speed (tokens/s) | 54 | 146 | -63.0% |
| Access | Open weights | Proprietary API | — |
- Gemma 4 26B A4B leads overall capability (Intelligence Index 25.0 vs 24.0).
- Gemma 4 26B A4B is the cheaper model to run at $0.13/1M blended tokens — about 3.3× cheaper.
- Nova 2.0 Lite offers the larger context window (1M tokens), useful for long documents and codebases.
Verdict: Gemma 4 26B A4B or Nova 2.0 Lite?
Gemma 4 26B A4B advantages
- General intelligence (+4%)
- Coding ability (+41%)
- Agentic task performance (+72%)
- Affordability (+70%)
Nova 2.0 Lite advantages
- Context window (+60%)
- Output speed (+63%)
Which should you choose?
- Choose the Gemma 4 26B A4B if you need the strongest overall reasoning and accuracy.
- Choose the Nova 2.0 Lite if you work with long documents or large codebases.
- Choose the Gemma 4 26B A4B if coding and software development are your main workload.
Value for money
Gemma 4 26B A4B offers more intelligence per dollar (3.4× the Intelligence-Index-per-cost of the alternative), making it the stronger value for high-volume use. It is also open-weight, so self-hosting can reduce costs further at scale.
Gemma 4 26B A4B vs Nova 2.0 Lite: which should you choose?
Gemma 4 26B A4B — Google text model with an Intelligence Index of 25, a 400K-token context window and a blended price of $0.13/1M tokens (open weights).
Nova 2.0 Lite — Amazon multimodal model with an Intelligence Index of 24, a 1M-token context window and a blended price of $0.43/1M tokens.
Gemma 4 26B A4B vs Nova 2.0 Lite: Gemma 4 26B A4B scores higher on the Intelligence Index. Gemma 4 26B A4B leads overall capability (Intelligence Index 25.0 vs 24.0). Gemma 4 26B A4B is the cheaper model to run at $0.13/1M blended tokens — about 3.3× cheaper.
Capability: intelligence, coding and agentic work
On the composite Intelligence Index the Gemma 4 26B A4B scores 25.0 versus 24.0. For software development, the Coding Index puts Gemma 4 26B A4B ahead (39.3 vs 23.0). On agentic, multi-step tool-use tasks, Gemma 4 26B A4B measures stronger. Composite indices summarize many evaluations, but always test on your own workload before committing.
Context window and speed
The Nova 2.0 Lite accepts up to 1 million tokens per request, which sets how much documentation, transcript or code it can reason over at once. In measured throughput, Nova 2.0 Lite generates faster (146 vs 54 tokens/s), which matters for interactive apps and high-volume pipelines.
Pricing and access
At blended per-token rates, Gemma 4 26B A4B is the cheaper model to run ($0.13 vs $0.43 per 1M tokens). Gemma 4 26B A4B is open weights and Nova 2.0 Lite is proprietary api. Open-weight models can be self-hosted, trading per-call cost for infrastructure you manage; for production also weigh rate limits, throughput and data-residency requirements.
The verdict
Both are credible choices in the ai model comparison space; the specification table above lays out every metric so you can weigh the trade-offs that matter to you. Pick the one whose strengths line up with how you will actually use it.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Gemma 4 26B A4B better than the Nova 2.0 Lite?
Gemma 4 26B A4B takes the overall edge, though Nova 2.0 Lite wins in specific areas worth weighing. Gemma 4 26B A4B leads overall capability (Intelligence Index 25.0 vs 24.0).
What is the main difference between the Gemma 4 26B A4B and the Nova 2.0 Lite?
Gemma 4 26B A4B leads overall capability (Intelligence Index 25.0 vs 24.0). Gemma 4 26B A4B is the cheaper model to run at $0.13/1M blended tokens — about 3.3× cheaper.
Which is better value?
Gemma 4 26B A4B offers more intelligence per dollar (3.4× the Intelligence-Index-per-cost of the alternative), making it the stronger value for high-volume use. It is also open-weight, so self-hosting can reduce costs further at scale.
Which should I choose?
Choose the Gemma 4 26B A4B if you need the strongest overall reasoning and accuracy. Choose the Nova 2.0 Lite if you work with long documents or large codebases.
Methodology
Large language models are compared on independent leaderboard metrics: an Intelligence Index (a composite of reasoning and knowledge evaluations), Coding and Agentic indices where measured, community arena Elo, maximum context window, a blended API price per million tokens (weighted across cache-hit, input and output rates), and measured output speed in tokens per second. Where a model ships multiple reasoning-effort variants, we report its strongest variant. Benchmarks capture only part of real-world quality, which also depends on tool use, latency, safety and task fit — and this space moves quickly, so figures reflect the leaderboard snapshot on the page date.