Phi-4-mini vs Llama-3.2-3B vs Nova Lite
Nova Lite comes out ahead, 77 to 58 and 49 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
MicrosoftPhi-4-mini
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.075 / $0.30
- Context128K
MetaLlama-3.2-3B
49/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.335
- Context131K
- Our pick
AmazonNova Lite
77/100- ECI—
- Price$0.06 / $0.24
- Context300K
Nova Lite is our pick
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 77/100 against Phi-4-mini (58) and Llama-3.2-3B (49). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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 · Llama-3.2-3B $0.159 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova LiteNova Lite 300,000 · Llama-3.2-3B 131,072 · Phi-4-mini 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNova LitePhi-4-mini: Text · Llama-3.2-3B: Text · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingPhi-4-mini and Llama-3.2-3BPublishes downloadable weights (Llama 3.2 Community License)
| Measure | Weight | Phi-4-mini | Llama-3.2-3B | Nova Lite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 92 | 88 | 96 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 0 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 39 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 49/100 | 77/100 |
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 | Phi-4-miniMicrosoft | Llama-3.2-3BMeta | Nova LiteAmazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.075 | $0.10 | $0.06 (best) |
| Output | $0.30 | $0.335 | $0.24 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.015 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.131 | $0.159 | $0.105 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Azure API | Median of 3 providers | Official Amazon Bedrock API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 300,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 10,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | No | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | OpenLlama 3.2 Community License | Proprietary |
| API model ID | phi-4-mini | — | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 |
| API providers | 1 | 3 (best) | 3 (best) |
| Released | Dec 11, 2024 | Sep 25, 2024 | Dec 3, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Oct 2023 | Dec 2023 | Oct 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Phi-4-mini$1.35
- Llama-3.2-3B$1.67
- Nova Lite$1.08
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Phi-4-mini, Llama-3.2-3B or Nova Lite?
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 77/100 against Phi-4-mini (58) and Llama-3.2-3B (49). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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, Phi-4-mini, Llama-3.2-3B or Nova Lite?
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); Llama-3.2-3B costs $0.10 input / $0.335 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). 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 $0.159 for Llama-3.2-3B (1.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Phi-4-mini has not been scored yet, Llama-3.2-3B has not been scored yet and Nova Lite has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Phi-4-mini, Llama-3.2-3B and Nova Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Llama-3.2-3B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova Lite has the largest context window at 300,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Llama-3.2-3B and 128,000 for Phi-4-mini. Maximum output per response: Phi-4-mini up to 4,096, Llama-3.2-3B up to 8,192, Nova Lite up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Phi-4-mini accepts text; Llama-3.2-3B accepts text; Nova Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Nova Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Phi-4-mini and Llama-3.2-3B publishes its weights (Llama 3.2 Community License) and can be self-hosted; Nova Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Phi-4-mini is the newest, released Dec 11, 2024. Nova Lite came out Dec 3, 2024; Llama-3.2-3B came out Sep 25, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Phi-4-mini Oct 2023, Llama-3.2-3B Dec 2023, Nova Lite Oct 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 Oct 4, 2026.
