We compare the gain and radiative efficiency characteristics of an InGaAsN and an InGaAs laser structure where the devices are identical except for the nitrogen content and emission wavelength. We find that the inclusion of nitrogen has little impact on the gain spectra except for the required shift to longer wavelength and that the intrinsic gain-radiative current characteristics may be slightly better for the nitrogen-containing materials. The radiative efficency is reduced by a factor of 4 in the samples containing nitrogen due to increased nonradiative recombination.