DeepSeek-V3 vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
DeepSeek-V3 and Phi 4 Reasoning Plus are closely matched at 15.6 and 15.0 on the LLM Stats Score.
DeepSeek · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
DeepSeek-V3 and Phi 4 Reasoning Plus are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 15.6 and 15.0.
In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Phi 4 Reasoning Plus wins 4; 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-V3
- you want predictable pricing at $0.27/M input and $0.89/M output
Choose Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 5 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
20 reported for DeepSeek-V3 · 11 for Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
DeepSeek-V3 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (IFEval), while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is better at 4 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA, LiveCodeBench, MMLU-Pro).
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
DeepSeek-V3 has 657.0B more parameters than Phi 4 Reasoning Plus, making it 4692.9% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only DeepSeek-V3 specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only DeepSeek-V3 specifies output context (131,072 tokens).
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek-V3 is licensed under MIT + Model License (Commercial use allowed), while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT + Model License (Commercial use allowed)
Open weights
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
DeepSeek-V3 was released on 2024-12-25, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus was released on 2025-04-30.
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is 4 months newer than DeepSeek-V3.
Dec 25, 2024
1.8 years ago
Apr 30, 2025
1.4 years ago
4mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-03-01, while DeepSeek-V3's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Phi 4 Reasoning Plus's training data extends to 2025-03-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek-V3's cutoff date.
—
Mar 2025
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against DeepSeek-V3 and Phi 4 Reasoning Plus side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek-V3 vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus.