Command R7B Arabic vs Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Nova Lite comes out ahead, 75 to 72 and 65 on our weighted score, though Command R7B Arabic is 38% cheaper per token.
CohereCommand R7B Arabic
65/100- ECI—
- Price$0.037 / $0.15
- Context128K
- Our pick
AmazonNova Lite
75/100- ECI—
- Price$0.06 / $0.24
- Context300K
MicrosoftPhi-4-multimodal-instruct
72/100- ECI—
- Price$0.07 / $0.11
- Context131K
Nova Lite is our pick
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Phi-4-multimodal-instruct (72) and Command R7B Arabic (65). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Command R7B Arabic wins on price. 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 priceCommand R7B ArabicCommand R7B Arabic $0.066 · Phi-4-multimodal-instruct $0.08 · Nova Lite $0.105 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova LiteNova Lite 300,000 · Phi-4-multimodal-instruct 131,072 · Command R7B Arabic 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNova LiteCommand R7B Arabic: Text · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Phi-4-multimodal-instruct: Text, Images, Audio
- Self-hostingCommand R7B Arabic and Phi-4-multimodal-instructPublishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Command R7B Arabic | Nova Lite | Phi-4-multimodal-instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 100 | 92 | 98 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 70 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 39 | 25 |
| Overall | 100% | 65/100 | 75/100 | 72/100 |
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 | Command R7B ArabicCohere | Nova LiteAmazon | Phi-4-multimodal-instructMicrosoft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.037 (best) | $0.06 | $0.07 |
| Output | $0.15 | $0.24 | $0.11 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.015 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.066 (best) | $0.105 | $0.08 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Cohere API | Official Amazon Bedrock API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 300,000 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 4,000 tokens | 10,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | OpenMIT |
| API model ID | command-r7b-arabic-02-2025 | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 | — |
| API providers | 1 | 8 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Feb 27, 2025 | Dec 3, 2024 | Feb 26, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jun 1, 2024 | Oct 2024 | Jun 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Command R7B Arabic$0.675
- Nova Lite$1.08
- Phi-4-multimodal-instruct$0.92
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Command R7B Arabic, Nova Lite or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Phi-4-multimodal-instruct (72) and Command R7B Arabic (65). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Command R7B Arabic wins on price. 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, Command R7B Arabic, Nova Lite or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?
Command R7B Arabic is cheaper at $0.037 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Cohere API price). Phi-4-multimodal-instruct costs $0.07 input / $0.11 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Nova Lite costs $0.06 input / $0.24 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.066 per million tokens for Command R7B Arabic versus $0.08 for Phi-4-multimodal-instruct (1.2× as much) and $0.105 for Nova Lite (1.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Command R7B Arabic has not been scored yet, Nova Lite has not been scored yet and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Command R7B Arabic, Nova Lite and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova Lite has the largest context window at 300,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Phi-4-multimodal-instruct and 128,000 for Command R7B Arabic. Maximum output per response: Command R7B Arabic up to 4,000, Nova Lite up to 10,000, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Command R7B Arabic accepts text; Nova Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Phi-4-multimodal-instruct accepts text, images and audio. Nova Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Command R7B Arabic and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Nova Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Command R7B Arabic is the newest, released Feb 27, 2025. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct came out Feb 26, 2025; Nova Lite came out Dec 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Command R7B Arabic Jun 1, 2024, Nova Lite Oct 2024, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct Jun 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 Nov 2, 2026.
