API cost decision in 10 seconds

Nova Micro 1.0 vs Phi 4

Pick Nova Micro 1.0 when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-06-13T07:08:03Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Nova Micro 1.0 when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nova Micro 1.0 is estimated at $0.11 vs $0.14 for Phi 4, saving $0.03 (22.2% lower).

Cost-first pickNova Micro 1.0

Context-first pickNova Micro 1.0

Sample savings$0.0322.2%

10x traffic gap$0.3

Nova Micro 1.0 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $0.3. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Nova Micro 1.0 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Nova Micro 1.0	Phi 4
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Nova Micro 1.0	$0.25	$0.4
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Nova Micro 1.0	$0.18	$0.21
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Nova Micro 1.0	$0.74	$0.77

Cheaper input Nova Micro 1.0 $0.035 vs $0.065 / 1M

Nova Micro 1.0 is $0.03 cheaper per 1M input tokens (46.2% lower; 1.86x difference).

Cheaper output Tie $0.14 vs $0.14 / 1M

Both models report the same output price at $0.14 per 1M tokens.

Larger context Nova Micro 1.0 128K vs 16.38K

Nova Micro 1.0 has 111.62K more context (7.81x larger).

Sample workload Nova Micro 1.0 $0.11 vs $0.14

Nova Micro 1.0 is $0.03 cheaper on the standard workload (22.2% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Nova Micro 1.0 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Phi 4 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Nova Micro 1.0 has the lower input price; both models tie on output price; Nova Micro 1.0 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Nova Micro 1.0 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.11 for Nova Micro 1.0 and $0.14 for Phi 4.

Best Fit

Choose Nova Micro 1.0 when you care most about lower input-token price, and larger context window.

Choose Phi 4 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nova Micro 1.0 is estimated at $0.11 vs $0.14 for Phi 4, saving $0.03 (22.2% lower).
Nova Micro 1.0 is $0.03 cheaper on the standard workload (22.2% lower).
Nova Micro 1.0 is $0.03 cheaper per 1M input tokens (46.2% lower; 1.86x difference).
Both models report the same output price at $0.14 per 1M tokens.
Nova Micro 1.0 has 111.62K more context (7.81x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	Nova Micro 1.0 (Amazon)	Phi 4 (Microsoft)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.035	$0.065
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.14	$0.14
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.11	$0.14
Context Window	128K	16.38K
Release Date	2024-12-05	2025-01-10
Popularity	#110	#139

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Nova Micro 1.0	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nova Micro 1.0 is estimated at $0.11 vs $0.14 for Phi 4, saving $0.03 (22.2% lower).
High-volume input processing	Nova Micro 1.0	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Tie	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Nova Micro 1.0	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

No lower-cost same-provider swap is currently tracked for this pair.

Larger context near this budget

Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
Lyria 3 Pro Preview offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
Lyria 3 Clip Preview offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
MiMo-V2.5 · Xiaomi · #3
MiniMax M3 · MiniMax · #4

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

Open cheapest models

Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

Open largest context models

Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

Open provider hubs

Amazon catalog

Review all tracked Amazon models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

Open Amazon models

Microsoft catalog

Check other Microsoft models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

Open Microsoft models

Nova Micro 1.0

Amazon Nova Micro 1.0 is a text-only model that delivers the lowest latency responses in the Amazon Nova family of models at a very low cost. With a context length...

Phi 4

[Microsoft Research](/microsoft) Phi-4 is designed to perform well in complex reasoning tasks and can operate efficiently in situations with limited memory or where quick responses are needed. At 14 billion...