Model comparison
Nova 2 Lite vs Phi-4 Mini
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 30.4 on the Noometry Index. Phi-4 Mini costs 6.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nova 2 Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 1 shared benchmarks.
MicrosoftSummary
- They share 1 benchmark with published results for both. Nova 2 Lite scores higher in 3 categories and Phi-4 Mini in 0 categories; 3 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Nova 2 Lite leads 42.5 to 24.8.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Vectara Hallucination Rate: 5.1% for Nova 2 Lite and 23.5% for Phi-4 Mini.
- Phi-4 Mini is cheaper at $0.075 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $2.50 for Nova 2 Lite.
- Nova 2 Lite accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 128K.
- Phi-4 Mini has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Amazon | Microsoft |
| Noometry Index | 39.0 | 30.4 |
| Released | 2025-12-01 | 2024-12-11 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1M | 128K |
| Max output | 64K | 4K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.30 | $0.075 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.50 | $0.30 |
| Results tracked | 19 | 3 |
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Category by category
Coding Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 40.1 (#131), Phi-4 Mini: 27.6 (#312)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | — | 10.8% |
| LMArena Coding | 1386 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 23.9 (#114), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 27.1% | — |
Reasoning Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 26.4 (#120), Phi-4 Mini: 21.7 (#190)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | — | 0% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1364 | — |
Math Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 34.8 (#154), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1359 | — |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Nova 2 Lite: 42.5 (#88), Phi-4 Mini: 24.8 (#261)
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.1% | 23.5% |
| LMArena Expert | 1360 | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 47.3 (#148), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1337 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1364 | — |
| LMArena French | 1381 | — |
| LMArena German | 1343 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1273 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1284 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1343 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1372 | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 70.7 (#156), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1335 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#145), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1335 | — |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Nova 2 Lite: 54.1 (#150), Phi-4 Mini: —
| Benchmark | Nova 2 Lite | Phi-4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1362 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1291 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1338 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Nova 2 Lite better than Phi-4 Mini?
Nova 2 Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 30.4 on the Noometry Index. Phi-4 Mini costs 6.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Nova 2 Lite's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Nova 2 Lite or Phi-4 Mini?
Phi-4 Mini is cheaper. It lists at $0.075 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Nova 2 Lite lists at $0.30 and $2.50.
Is Nova 2 Lite or Phi-4 Mini better for coding?
Nova 2 Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.1 versus 27.6 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nova 2 Lite does, with 1M tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks do Nova 2 Lite and Phi-4 Mini share?
1 benchmark has published results for both models. Nova 2 Lite has 19 scored results on Noometry and Phi-4 Mini has 3.