Phi-4-mini vs Magistral Medium vs Nova Lite
Nova Lite comes out ahead, 77 to 58 and 30 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
MicrosoftPhi-4-mini
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.075 / $0.30
- Context128K
Mistral AIMagistral Medium
30/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $5.00
- Context128K
- 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 Magistral Medium (30). 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 · Magistral Medium $2.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova LiteNova Lite 300,000 · Phi-4-mini 128,000 · Magistral Medium 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNova LitePhi-4-mini: Text · Magistral Medium: Text · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingPhi-4-miniPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Phi-4-mini | Magistral Medium | Nova Lite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 92 | 29 | 96 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 35 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 39 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 30/100 | 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 | Magistral MediumMistral AI | Nova LiteAmazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.075 | $2.00 | $0.06 (best) |
| Output | $0.30 | $5.00 | $0.24 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.015 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.131 | $2.75 | $0.105 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Azure API | Official Mistral API | Official Amazon Bedrock API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 300,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 16,384 tokens (best) | 10,000 tokens |
| 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 | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | phi-4-mini | magistral-medium-latest | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 |
| API providers | 1 | 4 (best) | 3 |
| Released | Dec 11, 2024 | Mar 17, 2025 | Dec 3, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Oct 2023 | Jun 2025 | 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
- Magistral Medium$30.00
- Nova Lite$1.08
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Phi-4-mini, Magistral Medium or Nova Lite?
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 77/100 against Phi-4-mini (58) and Magistral Medium (30). 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, Magistral Medium 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); 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 $0.105 per million tokens for Nova Lite versus $0.131 for Phi-4-mini (1.2× as much) and $2.75 for Magistral Medium (26× 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, Magistral Medium 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, Magistral Medium and Nova Lite 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 128,000 for Phi-4-mini and 128,000 for Magistral Medium. Maximum output per response: Phi-4-mini up to 4,096, Magistral Medium up to 16,384, Nova Lite up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Phi-4-mini accepts text; Magistral Medium 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 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Magistral Medium and Nova Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Magistral Medium is the newest, released Mar 17, 2025. Phi-4-mini came out Dec 11, 2024; Nova Lite came out Dec 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Phi-4-mini Oct 2023, Magistral Medium Jun 2025, 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.
