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Nova Lite 1.0 vs Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

Signal-by-Signal Comparison
SignalNova Lite 1.0DeltaGrok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Capabilities
50
-33
83
Pricing
100
+2
98
Context window size
87
-13
100
Recency
14
-86
100
Output Capacity
59
-41
100
Benchmarks
0
-86
86
Overall Result
1 wins
of 6
5 wins
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent wins 5 of 6 signals

Score History

Score History (32 data points)
Nova Lite 1.0Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Nova Lite 1.0

40

current score

Leader

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

right now

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

87.9

current score

LMMarketCap.com
Interactive Price Comparison
100Kcalls/month
1,000tokens (~1,333 chars)
500tokens (~667 chars)

Nova Lite 1.0

Amazon

Best Value
Per request$0.000180
Daily$0.60
Monthly$18.00
Annual$216.00

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

xAI

Per request$0.002500
Daily$8.33
Monthly$250.00
Annual$3000.00

Nova Lite 1.0 saves you $232.00/month

That's $2784.00/year compared to Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.

93% cheaper
Choose Nova Lite 1.0 for cost optimization

Nova Lite 1.0 pricing:
Input:$0.06/M tokens
Output:$0.24/M tokens
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent pricing:
Input:$1.25/M tokens
Output:$2.50/M tokens
Nova Lite 1.0

Amazon

40

Composite Score

Winner
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

xAI

88

Composite Score

Signal-by-Signal Comparison
MetricNova Lite 1.0Grok 4.20 Multi-AgentWinner
Overall Score
40
88
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Rank#398#56
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Quality Rank#398#56
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Adoption Rank#398#56
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Parameters------
Context Window300K2000K
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Pricing$0.06/$0.24/M$1.25/$2.50/M--
Signal Scores
Capabilities
50
83
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Pricing
100
98
Nova Lite 1.0
Context window size
87
100
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Recency
14
100
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Output Capacity
59
100
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Benchmarks--
86
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Benchmark Head-to-Head(11 benchmarks)
Nova Lite: 0Grok 4.20: 0
Nova Lite
Grok 4.20
Normalized 0-100%
MMLU
-91.5%
MMLU-Pro
-83.5%
GPQA Diamond
-82%
MATH-500
-95%
HumanEval
-95.5%
SWE-bench Verified
-70%
AIME 2024
-88%
IFEval
-91%
BBH
-90%
Arena Elo
-1462
LiveBench
-73%
Benchmark Interpretation

Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.

Nova Lite 1.0Entry Level

Scores 40/100 (rank #398), placing it in the top -37% of all 290 models tracked.

Raw Quality0/100
Cost Efficiency0/100
Speed0/100
Grok 4.20 Multi-AgentElite Tier

Scores 88/100 (rank #56), placing it in the top 81% of all 290 models tracked.

Raw Quality0/100
Cost Efficiency0/100
Speed0/100

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent has a 48-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably stronger performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.

When to Use Each Model

Choose Nova Lite 1.0 when you need:

  • High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
  • Agentic applications using tool/function calling

Choose Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent when you need:

  • Processing long documents or large codebases (2000K token context)
  • Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
Cost-Performance Analysis
Nova Lite 1.0Best Value
Input cost$0.06/M tokens
Output cost$0.24/M tokens
Cost per quality point$0.007
Est. monthly (1M tokens/day)$4.50
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Input cost$1.25/M tokens
Output cost$2.50/M tokens
Cost per quality point$0.043
Est. monthly (1M tokens/day)$56.25

Nova Lite 1.0 offers 92% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $4.50/month with Nova Lite 1.0 vs $56.25/month with Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent - a $51.75 monthly difference.

Latency & Speed
Nova Lite 1.0Faster
Speed score0/100
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Speed score0/100

Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.

When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.

Example Use Cases

Code generation & review

Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring

Nova Lite 1.0

Customer support chatbot

Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Nova Lite 1.0 also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support

Nova Lite 1.0

Long document analysis

Larger context window (2000K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

Batch data extraction

Lower output pricing ($0.24/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily

Nova Lite 1.0

Creative writing & content

Higher overall composite score (88/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

Image understanding & OCR

Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly

Nova Lite 1.0
Which Should You Choose?
Our recommendation:
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent clearly outperforms Nova Lite 1.0 with a significant 47.900000000000006-point lead. For most general use cases, Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent is the stronger choice. However, Nova Lite 1.0 may still excel in niche scenarios.

by Amazon

  • Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
  • Choose for Cost - 92% lower pricing; better value at scale
  • Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
  • Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
  • Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale

by xAI

Consider for specialized use cases.

Capability Comparison
CapabilityNova Lite 1.0Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Vision (Image Input)
Function Callingdiffers
Streaming
JSON Modediffers
Reasoningdiffers
Web Searchdiffers
Image Output
Monthly Cost Calculator
1,000tokens (600 in / 400 out)
100requests/day (3,000/month)

Nova Lite 1.0

Amazon

Best Value
$0.3960
estimated monthly cost

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

xAI

$5.25
estimated monthly cost

Nova Lite 1.0 saves you $4.85/month

That's 92% cheaper than Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.

Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.

Parameters & Context
ParameterNova Lite 1.0Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent
Context Window300K2M
Max Output Tokens5,1201,800,000
Open SourceNoNo
CreatedDec 5, 2024Mar 31, 2026
Last updated: 9m ago

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