Will a Nikkor 40mm f/2.8G macro lens be as good as a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G lens?

I want to get a prime lens and I was wondering if I should get the 40mm macro or the 50mm. I do like taking pictures of small things (close up of flowers, plants, insects, etc.), but I also pictures in low light and portraits so I was wondering if the 1.0 difference in the f-stop will make the lens bad for low light photography. Both lens are about 200 dollars and as a broke college student it has to be one or the other.

Added (1). the 50mm f/1.8G isn't a macro

Added (2). I know that the 50mm isn't a macro, I was wondering if it would still be good in low light. I have no question about the macro. I was asking the question because Low light performance is kinda more important to me than macro functionality but not much.

I would definitely not buy both, those sizes are too close to justify both though some people will disagree and you have a cash flow issue.

Have you tried both and seen what your ability to focus on objects are like? If the 40 mm is a macro and the 50 mm isn't? If you want to do close-up photographer work, get the 40 mm macro.

If they are both macro lenses, I would likely go for the 50 mm lenses because of its larger aperture and shorter shutter speed. I had a 50 mm macro I used for many years as my standard lenses but it was an f 4.0:-) I'd have killed for a macro with that f stop. It worked great as long as you had good outdoor lighting but the speeds could get pretty long pretty quick.

A macro lens will be sharper than one that is not (like the 50 mm f/1.8) and being a macro lens it will certainly be able to allow you to shoot insects, flowers and plants.

The next step up would be to the Nikkor AF-S 60 mm f/2.8 lens.

Basically the 50 mm lens will NOT be able to provide you with a macro capability. If you have visited the Nikon website, you should have seen that

It will be better than the 50mm if you want to make small objects seem large. It will be worse than the 50mm if you intend to use it in low light without flash. In theory, it's just one stop. Out there, a one stop difference is a lot. Different lenses, different applications. You can use both for portraits with f/1.8 making it easier to blur backgrounds (you can still blur backgrounds with f/2.8 if you know how to do it). You can also use both for general shooting with a full-frame dSLR.