Phi 4 vs Grok 4.5
| Signal | Phi 4 | Delta | Grok 4.5 |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 33 | -67 | |
Benchmarks | 65 | -11 | |
Pricing | 100 | +6 | |
Context window size | 67 | -23 | |
Recency | 28 | -72 | |
Output Capacity | 70 | +50 | |
| Overall Result | 2 wins | of 6 | 4 wins |
Score History
60.2
current score
Grok 4.5
right now
88.8
current score
Phi 4
Microsoft
Grok 4.5
xAI
Phi 4 saves you $486.00/month
That's $5832.00/year compared to Grok 4.5 at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Phi 4 | Grok 4.5 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 60 | 89 | Grok 4.5 |
| Rank | #208 | #44 | Grok 4.5 |
| Quality Rank | #208 | #44 | Grok 4.5 |
| Adoption Rank | #208 | #44 | Grok 4.5 |
| Parameters | -- | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 16K | 500K | Grok 4.5 |
| Pricing | $0.07/$0.14/M | $2.00/$6.00/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 33 | 100 | Grok 4.5 |
| Benchmarks | 65 | 76 | Grok 4.5 |
| Pricing | 100 | 94 | Phi 4 |
| Context window size | 67 | 90 | Grok 4.5 |
| Recency | 28 | 100 | Grok 4.5 |
| Output Capacity | 70 | 20 | 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 #208), placing it in the top 29% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 89/100 (rank #44), placing it in the top 85% of all 290 models tracked.
Grok 4.5 has a 29-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 Grok 4.5 when you need:
- Processing long documents or large codebases (500K 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 Grok 4.5 - 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 (500K 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 (89/100) 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
Grok 4.5 clearly outperforms Phi 4 with a significant 28.599999999999994-point lead. For most general use cases, Grok 4.5 is the stronger choice. However, Phi 4 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 | Grok 4.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input)differs | ||
| Function Callingdiffers | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoningdiffers | ||
| Web Searchdiffers | ||
| Image Output |
Phi 4
Microsoft
Grok 4.5
xAI
Phi 4 saves you $10.51/month
That's 97% cheaper than Grok 4.5 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 | Grok 4.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 16K | 500K |
| Max Output Tokens | 16,384 | -- |
| Open Source | Yes | No |
| Created | Jan 10, 2025 | Jul 8, 2026 |