Nemotron 3 Ultra vs Phi 4
| Signal | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Delta | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 67 | +33 | |
Pricing | 96 | -3 | |
Context window size | 91 | +24 | |
Recency | 100 | +72 | |
Output Capacity | 20 | -50 | |
Benchmarks | 0 | -65 | |
| Overall Result | 3 wins | of 6 | 3 wins |
Score History
40
current score
Phi 4
right now
60.2
current score
Nemotron 3 Ultra
NVIDIA
Phi 4
Microsoft
Phi 4 saves you $226.00/month
That's $2712.00/year compared to Nemotron 3 Ultra at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Phi 4 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 40 | 60 | Phi 4 |
| Rank | #256 | #208 | Phi 4 |
| Quality Rank | #256 | #208 | Phi 4 |
| Adoption Rank | #256 | #208 | Phi 4 |
| Parameters | 550B | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 512K | 16K | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Pricing | $0.60/$3.60/M | $0.07/$0.14/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 67 | 33 | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Pricing | 96 | 100 | Phi 4 |
| Context window size | 91 | 67 | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Recency | 100 | 28 | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Output Capacity | 20 | 70 | Phi 4 |
| Benchmarks | -- | 65 | Phi 4 |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.
Scores 40/100 (rank #256), placing it in the top 12% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 60/100 (rank #208), placing it in the top 29% of all 290 models tracked.
Phi 4 has a 20-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably stronger performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.
Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra when you need:
- Processing long documents or large codebases (512K token context)
- Agentic applications using tool/function calling
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Choose Phi 4 when you need:
- High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Phi 4 offers 95% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $3.15/month with Phi 4 vs $63.00/month with Nemotron 3 Ultra - a $59.85 monthly difference.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Phi 4 also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (512K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.14/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (60/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Phi 4 clearly outperforms Nemotron 3 Ultra with a significant 20.200000000000003-point lead. For most general use cases, Phi 4 is the stronger choice. However, Nemotron 3 Ultra may still excel in niche scenarios.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Phi 4
95% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by NVIDIA
- Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
- Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
- Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
- Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
| Capability | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input) | ||
| Function Callingdiffers | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoningdiffers | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
Nemotron 3 Ultra
NVIDIA
Phi 4
Microsoft
Phi 4 saves you $5.11/month
That's 95% cheaper than Nemotron 3 Ultra at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 512K | 16K |
| Max Output Tokens | -- | 16,384 |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Created | Jun 4, 2026 | Jan 10, 2025 |