ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Nova Lite vs Phi-4-mini

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 85 to 77 and 58 on our weighted score, though Nova Lite is 40% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    85/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

  2. Amazon

    Nova Lite

    Released Dec 3, 2024

    77/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.06 / $0.24
    • Context300K
    Full specs Remove Nova Lite

  3. Microsoft

    Phi-4-mini

    Released Dec 11, 2024

    58/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.075 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Phi-4-mini
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Nova Lite (77) and Phi-4-mini (58). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Nova Lite 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 priceNova LiteNova Lite $0.105 · Phi-4-mini $0.131 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · Nova Lite 300,000 · Phi-4-mini 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Phi-4-mini: Text
  • Self-hostingPhi-4-miniPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteNova LitePhi-4-mini
Price50%869692
Inputs & features30%1007025
Context window20%613924
Overall100%85/10077/10058/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs Nova Lite vs Phi-4-mini specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleNova LiteAmazonPhi-4-miniMicrosoft
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)133.9——
ECI rank#118 of 148——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.06 (best)$0.075
Output$0.40$0.24 (best)$0.30
Cached input$0.01 (best)$0.015—
Blended (3:1)$0.175$0.105 (best)$0.131
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial Amazon Bedrock APIOfficial Azure API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)300,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)10,000 tokens4,096 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesNo
PDFsYesYesNo
AudioYesNoNo
VideoYesYesNo
ReasoningYesNoNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryOpen
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-liteamazon.nova-lite-v1:0phi-4-mini
API providers20 (best)31
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Dec 3, 2024Dec 11, 2024
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Oct 2024Oct 2023
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
  • Nova Lite$1.08
  • Phi-4-mini$1.35
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Nova Lite or Phi-4-mini?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 85/100 against Nova Lite (77) and Phi-4-mini (58). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Nova Lite 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, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Nova Lite or Phi-4-mini?

Nova Lite is cheaper at $0.06 input / $0.24 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). Phi-4-mini costs $0.075 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Azure API price); Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.105 per million tokens for Nova Lite versus $0.131 for Phi-4-mini (1.2× as much) and $0.175 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (1.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has an ECI of 133.9, Nova Lite 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 2.5 Flash-Lite, Nova Lite 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 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 300,000 for Nova Lite and 128,000 for Phi-4-mini. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, Nova Lite up to 10,000, Phi-4-mini up to 4,096 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Nova Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Phi-4-mini accepts text. Gemini 2.5 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 2.5 Flash-Lite and Nova Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. Phi-4-mini came out Dec 11, 2024; Nova Lite came out Dec 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025, Nova Lite Oct 2024, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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