DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Phi 4
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Phi 4 are closely matched at -3.0 and 5.4 on the LLM Stats Score.
DeepSeek · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B and Phi 4 are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at -3.0 and 5.4.
In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Phi 4 wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
Choose Phi 4
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
4 reported for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B · 13 for Phi 4
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.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
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 (16,384 tokens). Only Phi 4 specifies output context (16,384 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
1.7 years ago
1mo newerDec 12, 2024
1.8 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
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.
FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B vs Phi 4.