Model Comparison
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Phi 4Which is better in 2026?
Phi 4 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Phi 4 — which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B (by DeepSeek) and Phi 4 (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.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Phi 4 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B if…
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
Choose Phi 4 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Phi 4 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Phi 4 has 12.9B more parameters than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B, making it 725.8% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Phi 4 specifies input context (16,000 tokens). Only Phi 4 specifies output context (16,000 tokens).
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under MIT.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
MIT
Open weights
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B was released on 2025-01-20, while Phi 4 was released on 2024-12-12.
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B is 1 month newer than Phi 4.
Jan 20, 2025
1.4 years ago
1mo newerDec 12, 2024
1.5 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Phi 4 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Phi 4's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B's cutoff date.
—
Jun 2024
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
Phi 4
View detailsMicrosoft
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Phi 4 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Phi 4.