Reka Flash 3 vs Nova Lite vs Phi-4-mini
Nova Lite comes out ahead, 75 to 56 and 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Reka AIReka Flash 3
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.20
- Context66K
- Our pick
AmazonNova Lite
75/100- ECI—
- Price$0.06 / $0.24
- Context300K
MicrosoftPhi-4-mini
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.075 / $0.30
- Context128K
Nova Lite is our pick
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Phi-4-mini (56) and Reka Flash 3 (50). 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 · Reka Flash 3 $0.125 · Phi-4-mini $0.131 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova LiteNova Lite 300,000 · Phi-4-mini 128,000 · Reka Flash 3 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsNova LiteReka Flash 3: Text · Nova Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Phi-4-mini: Text
- Self-hostingReka Flash 3 and Phi-4-miniPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Reka Flash 3 | Nova Lite | Phi-4-mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 92 | 88 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 10 | 70 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 12 | 39 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 75/100 | 56/100 |
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 | Reka Flash 3Reka AI | Nova LiteAmazon | Phi-4-miniMicrosoft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 | $0.06 (best) | $0.075 |
| Output | $0.20 (best) | $0.24 | $0.30 |
| Cached input | — | $0.015 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.125 | $0.105 (best) | $0.131 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 3 providers | Official Amazon Bedrock API | Official Azure API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 65,536 tokens | 300,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 58,982 tokens (best) | 10,000 tokens | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | No |
| Tool calling | No | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | — | amazon.nova-lite-v1:0 | phi-4-mini |
| API providers | 3 | 8 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Mar 10, 2025 | Dec 3, 2024 | Feb 26, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 31, 2025 | Oct 2024 | Jun 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Reka Flash 3$1.40
- Nova Lite$1.08
- Phi-4-mini$1.35
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Reka Flash 3, Nova Lite or Phi-4-mini?
Nova Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Phi-4-mini (56) and Reka Flash 3 (50). 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, Reka Flash 3, 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). Reka Flash 3 costs $0.10 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers); Phi-4-mini costs $0.075 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Azure 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 $0.125 for Reka Flash 3 (1.2× as much) and $0.131 for Phi-4-mini (1.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Reka Flash 3 has not been scored yet, 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 Reka Flash 3, 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. Note that Reka Flash 3 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 128,000 for Phi-4-mini and 65,536 for Reka Flash 3. Maximum output per response: Reka Flash 3 up to 58,982, Nova Lite up to 10,000, Phi-4-mini up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Reka Flash 3 accepts text; Nova Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Phi-4-mini accepts text. Nova Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Reka Flash 3 and Phi-4-mini publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Nova Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Reka Flash 3 is the newest, released Mar 10, 2025. Phi-4-mini came out Feb 26, 2025; Nova Lite came out Dec 3, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Reka Flash 3 Jan 31, 2025, Nova Lite Oct 2024, Phi-4-mini Jun 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 Nov 2, 2026.
