Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite vs Magistral Medium vs Phi-4-mini
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 78 to 31 and 25 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.0 Flash-Lite
78/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context1.05M
Mistral AIMagistral Medium
31/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $5.00
- Context128K
MicrosoftPhi-4-mini
25/100- ECI—
- Price$0.075 / $0.30
- Context128K
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Magistral Medium (31) and Phi-4-mini (25). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 pricePhi-4-miniPhi-4-mini $0.131 · Magistral Medium $2.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite unpriced
- Longest contextGemini 2.0 Flash-LiteGemini 2.0 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Magistral Medium 128,000 · Phi-4-mini 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.0 Flash-LiteGemini 2.0 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Magistral Medium: Text · Phi-4-mini: Text
- Self-hostingPhi-4-miniPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite | Magistral Medium | Phi-4-mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 90 | 35 | 25 |
| Context window | 40% | 61 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 78/100 | 31/100 | 25/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 2.0 Flash-LiteGoogle | Magistral MediumMistral AI | Phi-4-miniMicrosoft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | — | $2.00 | $0.075 (best) |
| Output | — | $5.00 | $0.30 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | — | $2.75 | $0.131 (best) |
| Long-context rate | — | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | — | Official Mistral API | Official Azure API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 16,384 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | — | magistral-medium-latest | phi-4-mini |
| API providers | — | 4 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Dec 11, 2024 | Mar 17, 2025 | Dec 11, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jun 2024 | Jun 2025 | Oct 2023 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite—
- Magistral Medium$30.00
- Phi-4-mini$1.35
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, Magistral Medium or Phi-4-mini?
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Magistral Medium (31) and Phi-4-mini (25). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, Magistral Medium or Phi-4-mini?
Phi-4-mini is cheaper at $0.075 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Azure API price). Magistral Medium costs $2.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.131 per million tokens for Phi-4-mini versus $2.75 for Magistral Medium (21× as much). Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite has not been scored yet, Magistral Medium has not been scored yet and Phi-4-mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, Magistral Medium and Phi-4-mini 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?
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 128,000 for Magistral Medium and 128,000 for Phi-4-mini. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite up to 8,192, Magistral Medium up to 16,384, Phi-4-mini up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Magistral Medium accepts text; Phi-4-mini accepts text. Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Phi-4-mini publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite and Magistral Medium is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Magistral Medium is the newest, released Mar 17, 2025. Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite came out Dec 11, 2024; Phi-4-mini came out Dec 11, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite Jun 2024, Magistral Medium Jun 2025, Phi-4-mini Oct 2023.
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 Oct 4, 2026.
