Mistral Large 4 vs Phi 4
| Signal | Mistral Large 4 | Delta | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 83 | +50 | |
Benchmarks | 68 | +3 | |
Pricing | 98 | -2 | |
Context window size | 96 | +29 | |
Recency | 100 | +88 | |
Output Capacity | 87 | +20 | |
| Overall Result | 5 wins | of 6 | 1 wins |
Score History
68.3
current score
Mistral Large 4
right now
61
current score
Mistral Large 4
Mistral AI
Phi 4
Microsoft
Phi 4 saves you $161.00/month
That's $1932.00/year compared to Mistral Large 4 at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Mistral Large 4 | Phi 4 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 68 | 61 | Mistral Large 4 |
| Rank | #132 | #158 | Mistral Large 4 |
| Quality Rank | #132 | #158 | Mistral Large 4 |
| Adoption Rank | #132 | #158 | Mistral Large 4 |
| Parameters | -- | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 1049K | 16K | Mistral Large 4 |
| Pricing | $0.70/$2.10/M | $0.07/$0.14/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 83 | 33 | Mistral Large 4 |
| Benchmarks | 68 | 65 | Mistral Large 4 |
| Pricing | 98 | 100 | Phi 4 |
| Context window size | 96 | 67 | Mistral Large 4 |
| Recency | 100 | 12 | Mistral Large 4 |
| Output Capacity | 87 | 67 | Mistral Large 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 68/100 (rank #132), placing it in the top 55% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 61/100 (rank #158), placing it in the top 46% of all 290 models tracked.
Mistral Large 4 has a 7-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably better performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.
Choose Mistral Large 4 when you need:
- Processing long documents or large codebases (1049K token context)
- Multimodal workflows that require image understanding
- 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 93% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $3.15/month with Phi 4 vs $42.00/month with Mistral Large 4 - a $38.85 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 (1049K 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 (68/100) 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
Mistral Large 4 has a moderate advantage with a 7.299999999999997-point lead in composite score. It wins on more signal dimensions, but Phi 4 has specific strengths that could make it the better choice for certain workflows.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
Mistral Large 4
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Phi 4
93% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Mistral Large 4
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Mistral Large 4
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Mistral Large 4
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by Mistral AI
- 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 | Mistral Large 4 | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input)differs | ||
| Function Callingdiffers | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoningdiffers | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
Mistral Large 4
Mistral AI
Phi 4
Microsoft
Phi 4 saves you $3.49/month
That's 92% cheaper than Mistral Large 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 | Mistral Large 4 | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 1.0M | 16K |
| Max Output Tokens | 262,144 | 14,745 |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Created | Oct 6, 2026 | Jan 10, 2025 |