Phi 4 vs Fugu Max
| Signal | Phi 4 | Delta | Fugu Max |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 33 | -67 | |
Benchmarks | 65 | +65 | |
Pricing | 100 | +6 | |
Context window size | 67 | -28 | |
Recency | 20 | -80 | |
Output Capacity | 67 | -15 | |
| Overall Result | 2 wins | of 6 | 4 wins |
Score History
60.2
current score
Phi 4
right now
40
current score
Phi 4
Microsoft
Fugu Max
sakana
Phi 4 saves you $486.00/month
That's $5832.00/year compared to Fugu Max at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Phi 4 | Fugu Max | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 60 | 40 | Phi 4 |
| Rank | #215 | #246 | Phi 4 |
| Quality Rank | #215 | #246 | Phi 4 |
| Adoption Rank | #215 | #246 | Phi 4 |
| Parameters | -- | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 16K | 1000K | Fugu Max |
| Pricing | $0.07/$0.14/M | $2.00/$6.00/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 33 | 100 | Fugu Max |
| Benchmarks | 65 | -- | Phi 4 |
| Pricing | 100 | 94 | Phi 4 |
| Context window size | 67 | 95 | Fugu Max |
| Recency | 20 | 100 | Fugu Max |
| Output Capacity | 67 | 82 | Fugu Max |
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 #215), placing it in the top 26% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 40/100 (rank #246), placing it in the top 16% 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 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
Choose Fugu Max when you need:
- Processing long documents or large codebases (1000K token context)
- Multimodal workflows that require image understanding
- Agentic applications using tool/function calling
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
Phi 4 offers 97% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $3.15/month with Phi 4 vs $120.00/month with Fugu Max - a $116.85 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 (1000K 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
Image understanding & OCR
Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly
Phi 4 clearly outperforms Fugu Max with a significant 20.200000000000003-point lead. For most general use cases, Phi 4 is the stronger choice. However, Fugu Max may still excel in niche scenarios.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
Phi 4
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Phi 4
97% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Phi 4
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Phi 4
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Phi 4
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by Microsoft
- Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
- Choose for Cost - 97% lower pricing; better value at scale
- 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 | Phi 4 | Fugu Max |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input)differs | ||
| Function Callingdiffers | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoningdiffers | ||
| Web Searchdiffers | ||
| Image Output |
Phi 4
Microsoft
Fugu Max
sakana
Phi 4 saves you $10.51/month
That's 97% cheaper than Fugu Max 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 | Phi 4 | Fugu Max |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 16K | 1M |
| Max Output Tokens | 14,745 | 128,000 |
| Open Source | Yes | No |
| Created | Jan 10, 2025 | Sep 11, 2026 |