Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

    Comparison

    As of August 21, 2026, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is 50% cheaper per million tokens than Nova Lite. Nova Lite is $0.06 / $0.24 per million input/output tokens versus Phi-4-multimodal-instruct at $0.05 / $0.10. Sources: https://anotherwrapper.com/tools/llm-pricing and https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/cognitive-services/openai-service/

    Sources: AnotherWrapper LLM pricing (https://anotherwrapper.com/tools/llm-pricing); Microsoft pricing (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/cognitive-services/openai-service/)

    Nova Lite

    Amazon

    $0.30blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.06

    Output

    $0.24

    300K ctx|Proprietary
    50%
    cheaper
    Better value

    Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

    Microsoft

    $0.15blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.05

    Output

    $0.10

    128K ctx|Open Source
    Save $0.15 per million tokens by choosing Phi-4-multimodal-instruct over Nova Lite.

    Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct comparison

    Token pricing, specs, and benchmarks side by side

    Metric
    Nova Lite
    Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
    Provider
    Provider
    Amazon
    Microsoft
    License
    Proprietary
    Open Source
    Release Date
    2024-11-20
    2025-02-01
    Pricing (per 1M tokens)
    Input Price+20%
    $0.06
    $0.05
    Output Price+140%
    $0.24
    $0.10
    Blended (1M + 1M)
    $0.30
    $0.15
    Model Details
    Context Window
    300K
    128K
    Max Output Tokens
    2K
    128K
    Knowledge Cutoff
    N/A
    2024-06-01
    Throughput
    100 tok/s
    25 tok/s
    Benchmarks
    3.6%
    42%
    89.7%
    38.5%
    66.6%
    80.5%
    56.2%
    55.1%
    85.4%
    73.3%
    82.3%
    92.4%
    82.4%
    61.3%
    86.8%
    81.4%
    43.8%
    92.4%
    93.2%
    80.2%
    71.4%
    73.6%
    80.2%
    94.5%
    72.7%
    48.6%
    40.4%
    62.4%
    60.7%
    86.7%
    84.4%
    85.6%
    19.2%
    80.2%
    75.6%
    77.8%
    55%
    Benchmark Wins
    Nova Lite 3|1 Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

    Verdict

    Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct: the bottom line

    Phi-4-multimodal-instruct offers significantly lower pricing, while Nova Lite leads on benchmark performance. Your choice depends on whether cost efficiency or raw capability matters more for your use case.

    Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct FAQ

    Which is cheaper, Nova Lite or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

    As of August 21, 2026, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is 50% cheaper on blended LLM API pricing. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct costs $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.10 per million output tokens ($0.15 blended 1M-in + 1M-out). Nova Lite costs $0.06 / $0.24 per million tokens ($0.30 blended). Sources: https://anotherwrapper.com/tools/llm-pricing and https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/cognitive-services/openai-service/. The cheapest LLM for your app still depends on how many output tokens you generate.

    How much does Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct cost per million tokens?

    Nova Lite Amazon API pricing is $0.06 input and $0.24 output per million tokens via Amazon. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct Microsoft API pricing is $0.05 input and $0.10 output per million tokens via Microsoft. Use those four numbers, not ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro subscription prices, when you are comparing APIs.

    Which is better for coding, Nova Lite or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

    Nova Lite has a published HumanEval score of 85.4%. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct does not have that eval on this page yet.

    What is the context window for Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

    Nova Lite supports a 300K token context window, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct supports 128K tokens. Nova Lite offers a larger context window. Filling a larger window bills more input tokens, so the cheaper-per-million model can still cost more on long documents.

    Which model performs better on benchmarks, Nova Lite or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

    Nova Lite leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks versus Phi-4-multimodal-instruct's 1 wins. Check the comparison table for GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench, MMLU, HLE, and the other evals we track. Token price and benchmark score together are the usual LLM comparison, not either number alone.

    Is Nova Lite or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct better for production use?

    Both Nova Lite and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct are production API models. For cost-sensitive production traffic, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has better economics on the blended 1M-in + 1M-out scale. For maximum capability, weight the benchmark table for your domain. Many production stacks route cheap models for drafts and a frontier model for the hard turn, which is usually cheaper than sending everything to the expensive API.

    Can I switch between Nova Lite and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct in my app?

    Yes. Call Nova Lite through Amazon and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct through Microsoft with separate API keys, or through a gateway that already wraps both. Keep prompts in tokens, not characters, when you estimate the invoice. AnotherWrapper templates can swap providers without rewriting auth and billing.

    How accurate is this Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct pricing data?

    List rates are the latest published Amazon API pricing and Microsoft API pricing, quoted per million tokens. Official rate sheets: https://anotherwrapper.com/tools/llm-pricing and https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/cognitive-services/openai-service/. Prompt caching, batch APIs, and committed-use discounts can change the invoice. Benchmark scores are from official publications and independent evals, updated as new numbers land.

    What is the output token limit for Nova Lite and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

    Nova Lite supports up to 2K output tokens per request, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct supports up to 128K output tokens. Output tokens are usually the expensive half of API pricing, so a higher max output cap is a capability, not a discount.

    Which model has better throughput, Nova Lite or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

    Nova Lite runs at approximately 100 tokens/second while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct runs at 25 tokens/second. Nova Lite is faster in raw throughput. Throughput (tokens per second) and time-to-first-token are why two models with the same per-million-token price can still feel different in chat and agents.

    How do I switch the models in this Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct comparison?

    Use the model pickers at the top of this LLM comparison. Search any model in the index and the URL updates. Open Nova Lite or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct from the sidebar for the single-model API pricing page, or go back to the LLM pricing table to sort by cheapest blended cost.

    Nova Lite vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct pricing

    This comparison covers API pricing, context window, throughput, and benchmark scores. Nova Lite costs $0.06/M input and $0.24/M output. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct costs $0.05/M input and $0.10/M output.

    Rank both on the LLM leaderboard, SWE-bench, and Humanity's Last Exam.

    The index

    All Large Language Models

    280 models across 33 providers. Search or jump to a lab — every model page stays linked here.

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    1 models

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    1 models

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    1 models

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    1 models

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    1 models

    Upstage

    1 models

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