Model Comparison

Claude 3 Sonnet vs Phi 4 ReasoningWhich is better in 2026?

Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Claude 3 Sonnet vs Phi 4 Reasoning — which is better?

Claude 3 Sonnet (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 Sonnet 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 Sonnet if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/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
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Claude 3 Sonnet outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 Reasoning is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro).

Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Claude 3 Sonnet specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude 3 Sonnet specifies output context (200,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude 3 Sonnet
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4 Reasoning
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude 3 Sonnet supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Reasoning does not.

Claude 3 Sonnet can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude 3 Sonnet

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi 4 Reasoning

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude 3 Sonnet 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.

Claude 3 Sonnet

Proprietary

Closed source

Phi 4 Reasoning

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3 Sonnet 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 Sonnet.

Claude 3 Sonnet

Feb 29, 2024

2.3 years ago

Phi 4 Reasoning

Apr 30, 2025

1.1 years ago

1.2yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Reasoning has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-03-01, while Claude 3 Sonnet'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 Sonnet's cutoff date.

Claude 3 Sonnet

—

Phi 4 Reasoning

Mar 2025

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Microsoft
Has open weights
Higher GPQA score (65.8% vs 40.4%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (74.3% vs 56.8%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3 Sonnet
Microsoft
Phi 4 Reasoning

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3 Sonnet vs Phi 4 Reasoning.

Which is better, Claude 3 Sonnet or Phi 4 Reasoning?

Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude 3 Sonnet is made by Anthropic and Phi 4 Reasoning is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude 3 Sonnet compare to Phi 4 Reasoning in benchmarks?

Claude 3 Sonnet scores ARC-C: 93.2%, GSM8k: 92.3%, HellaSwag: 89.0%, MGSM: 83.5%, BIG-Bench Hard: 82.9%. Phi 4 Reasoning scores FlenQA: 97.7%, HumanEval+: 92.9%, IFEval: 83.4%, OmniMath: 76.6%, AIME 2024: 75.3%.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3 Sonnet and Phi 4 Reasoning?

Claude 3 Sonnet supports 200K tokens and Phi 4 Reasoning supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude 3 Sonnet and Phi 4 Reasoning?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3 Sonnet and Phi 4 Reasoning?

Claude 3 Sonnet is developed by Anthropic and Phi 4 Reasoning is developed by Microsoft.

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