Phi-4-mini vs Pixtral 12B vs Nova Lite
Nova Lite comes out ahead, 77 to 64 and 58 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
MicrosoftPhi-4-mini
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.075 / $0.30
- Context128K
Mistral AIPixtral 12B
64/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- 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 Pixtral 12B (64) and Phi-4-mini (58). 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 · Pixtral 12B $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova LiteNova Lite 300,000 · Phi-4-mini 128,000 · Pixtral 12B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNova LitePhi-4-mini: Text · Pixtral 12B: Text, Images · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingPhi-4-mini and Pixtral 12BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Phi-4-mini | Pixtral 12B | Nova Lite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 92 | 89 | 96 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 50 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 39 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 64/100 | 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 | Pixtral 12BMistral AI | Nova LiteAmazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.075 | $0.15 | $0.06 (best) |
| Output | $0.30 | $0.15 (best) | $0.24 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.015 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.131 | $0.15 | $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 | 128,000 tokens (best) | 10,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | phi-4-mini | pixtral-12b | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 |
| API providers | 1 | 4 (best) | 3 |
| Released | Dec 11, 2024 | Sep 1, 2024 | Dec 3, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Oct 2023 | Sep 2024 | 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
- Pixtral 12B$1.80
- Nova Lite$1.08
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Phi-4-mini, Pixtral 12B or Nova Lite?
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 77/100 against Pixtral 12B (64) and Phi-4-mini (58). 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, Pixtral 12B 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); Pixtral 12B costs $0.15 input / $0.15 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 $0.15 for Pixtral 12B (1.4× 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, Pixtral 12B 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, Pixtral 12B 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 Pixtral 12B. Maximum output per response: Phi-4-mini up to 4,096, Pixtral 12B up to 128,000, Nova Lite up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Phi-4-mini accepts text; Pixtral 12B accepts text and images; 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 Pixtral 12B publishes its weights 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; Pixtral 12B came out Sep 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Phi-4-mini Oct 2023, Pixtral 12B Sep 2024, 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.
