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Nova Micro vs Phi 4 Mini

Nova Micro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Amazon · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Nova Micro outperforms in 5 benchmarks (ARC-C, GPQA, GSM8k, MATH, MMLU), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 0 benchmarks. Nova Micro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Nova Micro

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 5 shared benchmarks

Choose Phi 4 Mini

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Nova Micro
Amazon
Phi 4 Mini
Microsoft
Benchmark wins
5 of 5
0 of 5
Input price
$0.03 / M
— / M
Output price
$0.14 / M
— / M
Context window
128,000
—
Released
Nov 2024
Feb 2025
License
Proprietary
MIT

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Nova Micro outperforms in 5 benchmarks (ARC-C, GPQA, GSM8k, MATH, MMLU), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 0 benchmarks.

Nova Micro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Aug 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Nova Micro specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Nova Micro specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Amazon
Nova Micro
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mon Aug 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Nova Micro is licensed under a proprietary license, while Phi 4 Mini uses MIT.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Nova Micro

Proprietary

Closed source

Phi 4 Mini

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Nova Micro was released on 2024-11-20, while Phi 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01.

Phi 4 Mini is 2 months newer than Nova Micro.

Nova Micro

Nov 20, 2024

1.8 years ago

Phi 4 Mini

Feb 1, 2025

1.6 years ago

2mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Nova Micro's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi 4 Mini's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Nova Micro's cutoff date.

Nova Micro

—

Phi 4 Mini

Jun 2024

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Nova Micro and Phi 4 Mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Nova Micro
✓ Preferred
Phi 4 Mini
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Nova Micro vs Phi 4 Mini.

Which is better, Nova Micro or Phi 4 Mini?

Nova Micro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Nova Micro is made by Amazon and Phi 4 Mini is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Nova Micro compare to Phi 4 Mini in benchmarks?

Nova Micro scores GSM8k: 92.3%, ARC-C: 90.2%, Translation Set1→en COMET22: 88.7%, Translation en→Set1 COMET22: 88.5%, IFEval: 87.2%. Phi 4 Mini scores GSM8k: 88.6%, ARC-C: 83.7%, BoolQ: 81.2%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%, PIQA: 77.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Nova Micro and Phi 4 Mini?

Nova Micro supports 128K tokens and Phi 4 Mini supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Nova Micro and Phi 4 Mini?

Key differences include licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Nova Micro and Phi 4 Mini?

Nova Micro is developed by Amazon and Phi 4 Mini is developed by Microsoft.

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