Phi-4-mini vs Qwen Flash vs Nova Lite
Nova Lite comes out ahead, 77 to 68 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
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Flash
68/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.40
- Context1M
- 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 Qwen Flash (68) and Phi-4-mini (58). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen Flash wins on 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 · Qwen Flash $0.138 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen FlashQwen Flash 1,000,000 · Nova Lite 300,000 · Phi-4-mini 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNova LitePhi-4-mini: Text · Qwen Flash: Text · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingPhi-4-miniPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Phi-4-mini | Qwen Flash | Nova Lite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 92 | 91 | 96 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 35 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 60 | 39 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 68/100 | 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 | Qwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen) | Nova LiteAmazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.075 | $0.05 (best) | $0.06 |
| Output | $0.30 | $0.40 | $0.24 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.015 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.131 | $0.138 | $0.105 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Azure API | Official Alibaba API | Official Amazon Bedrock API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 300,000 tokens |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 32,768 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 | qwen-flash | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 |
| API providers | 1 | 6 (best) | 3 |
| Released | Dec 11, 2024 | Jul 28, 2025 | Dec 3, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Oct 2023 | Apr 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
- Qwen Flash$1.30
- Nova Lite$1.08
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Phi-4-mini, Qwen Flash or Nova Lite?
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 77/100 against Qwen Flash (68) and Phi-4-mini (58). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen Flash wins on 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, Qwen Flash 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); Qwen Flash costs $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $0.138 for Qwen Flash (1.3× 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, Qwen Flash 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, Qwen Flash 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?
Qwen Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 300,000 for Nova Lite and 128,000 for Phi-4-mini. Maximum output per response: Phi-4-mini up to 4,096, Qwen Flash up to 32,768, Nova Lite up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Phi-4-mini accepts text; Qwen Flash 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; Qwen Flash and Nova Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen Flash is the newest, released Jul 28, 2025. Phi-4-mini came out Dec 11, 2024; Nova Lite came out Dec 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Phi-4-mini Oct 2023, Qwen Flash Apr 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.
