Model Comparison
Claude 3 Opus vs Phi 4 ReasoningWhich is better in 2026?
Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: Claude 3 Opus vs Phi 4 Reasoning — which is better?
Claude 3 Opus (by Anthropic) and Phi 4 Reasoning (by Microsoft) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 Reasoning is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro). Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose Claude 3 Opus if…
- you want predictable pricing at $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output
Choose Phi 4 Reasoning if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 Reasoning is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro).
Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Claude 3 Opus specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude 3 Opus specifies output context (200,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude 3 Opus supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Reasoning does not.
Claude 3 Opus can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude 3 Opus
Phi 4 Reasoning
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude 3 Opus is licensed under a proprietary license, while Phi 4 Reasoning uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude 3 Opus was released on 2024-02-29, while Phi 4 Reasoning was released on 2025-04-30.
Phi 4 Reasoning is 14 months newer than Claude 3 Opus.
Feb 29, 2024
2.3 years ago
Apr 30, 2025
1.1 years ago
1.2yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Phi 4 Reasoning has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-03-01, while Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Phi 4 Reasoning's training data extends to 2025-03-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date.
—
Mar 2025
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude 3 Opus
View detailsAnthropic
Phi 4 Reasoning
View detailsMicrosoft
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3 Opus vs Phi 4 Reasoning.