Model comparison
Nova 2 Lite vs Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
MicrosoftSummary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Nova 2 Lite scores higher in 8 categories and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Nova 2 Lite leads 53.9 to 27.1.
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Amazon | Microsoft |
| Noometry Index | 39.7 | 29.7 |
| Released | 2025-12-01 | 2024-04-23 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1M | — |
| Max output | 64K | — |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.30 | — |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.50 | — |
| Results tracked | 19 | 19 |
Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry
Category by category
Coding Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 28.8 (#312)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1385 | 1039 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 29.6% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 40.6% |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 27.1% | — |
Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 19.6 (#256)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1364 | 1028 |
Math Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 31.6 (#222)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1359 | 1089 |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 26.8 (#254)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1358 | 984 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.1% | — |
Multilingual Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 25.2 (#285)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1337 | 1000 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1364 | 1016 |
| LMArena French | 1381 | 1039 |
| LMArena German | 1343 | 1006 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1271 | 899 |
| LMArena Korean | 1284 | 856 |
| LMArena Russian | 1343 | 1004 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1373 | 1059 |
Instruction Following Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 51.8 (#294)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1335 | 1023 |
Long Context Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 30.4 (#289)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1335 | 996 |
Writing & Preference Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 27.1 (#301)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1362 | 1050 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1291 | 1024 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1338 | 989 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Nova 2 Lite better than Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct?
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.
Is Nova 2 Lite or Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct better for coding?
Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.7 versus 28.8 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Nova 2 Lite and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Nova 2 Lite has 19 scored results on Noometry and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has 19.