GPT-4 vs Phi 4
| Signal | GPT-4 | Delta | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 50 | +17 | |
Benchmarks | 61 | -5 | |
Pricing | 40 | -60 | |
Context window size | 62 | -5 | |
Recency | 0 | -16 | |
Output Capacity | 58 | -9 | |
| Overall Result | 1 wins | of 6 | 5 wins |
Score History
60
current score
Phi 4
right now
61
current score
GPT-4
OpenAI
Phi 4
Microsoft
Phi 4 saves you $5986.00/month
That's $71832.00/year compared to GPT-4 at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | GPT-4 | Phi 4 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 60 | 61 | Phi 4 |
| Rank | #173 | #171 | Phi 4 |
| Quality Rank | #173 | #171 | Phi 4 |
| Adoption Rank | #173 | #171 | Phi 4 |
| Parameters | -- | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 8K | 16K | Phi 4 |
| Pricing | $30.00/$60.00/M | $0.07/$0.14/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 50 | 33 | GPT-4 |
| Benchmarks | 61 | 65 | Phi 4 |
| Pricing | 40 | 100 | Phi 4 |
| Context window size | 62 | 67 | Phi 4 |
| Recency | 0 | 16 | Phi 4 |
| Output Capacity | 58 | 67 | 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 60/100 (rank #173), placing it in the top 41% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 61/100 (rank #171), placing it in the top 41% of all 290 models tracked.
With only a 1-point gap, these models are in the same performance tier. The practical difference in output quality is minimal - your choice should depend on pricing, latency requirements, and specific feature needs.
Choose GPT-4 when you need:
- Agentic applications using tool/function calling
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 100% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $3.15/month with Phi 4 vs $1350.00/month with GPT-4 - a $1346.85 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 (16K 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 (61/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
GPT-4 and Phi 4 are extremely close in overall performance (only 1 points apart). Your best choice depends entirely on which specific strengths matter most for your use case.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
GPT-4
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Phi 4
100% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
GPT-4
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
GPT-4
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
GPT-4
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by OpenAI
- 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 | GPT-4 | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input) | ||
| Function Callingdiffers | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
GPT-4
OpenAI
Phi 4
Microsoft
Phi 4 saves you $125.71/month
That's 100% cheaper than GPT-4 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 | GPT-4 | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 8K | 16K |
| Max Output Tokens | 4,096 | 14,745 |
| Open Source | No | Yes |
| Created | May 28, 2023 | Jan 10, 2025 |