Model Comparison
GPT-4 Turbo vs Phi 4Which is better in 2026?
GPT-4 Turbo shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Phi 4 is 171.4x cheaper per token.
Verdict: GPT-4 Turbo vs Phi 4 — which is better?
GPT-4 Turbo (by OpenAI) 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.
GPT-4 Turbo outperforms in 4 benchmarks (DROP, HumanEval, MGSM, MMLU), while Phi 4 is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH). GPT-4 Turbo shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, Phi 4 is roughly 171.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
GPT-4 Turbo also accepts a larger context window (128,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose GPT-4 Turbo if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 6 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 128,000 token context window
Choose Phi 4 if…
- cost matters — it's about 171.4x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2024
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
GPT-4 Turbo outperforms in 4 benchmarks (DROP, HumanEval, MGSM, MMLU), while Phi 4 is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH).
GPT-4 Turbo shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, GPT-4 Turbo ($10.00/1M tokens) is 142.9x more expensive than Phi 4 ($0.07/1M tokens).
For output processing, GPT-4 Turbo ($30.00/1M tokens) is 214.3x more expensive than Phi 4 ($0.14/1M tokens).
In conclusion, GPT-4 Turbo is more expensive than Phi 4.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
GPT-4 Turbo accepts 128,000 input tokens compared to Phi 4's 16,000 tokens. Phi 4 can generate longer responses up to 16,000 tokens, while GPT-4 Turbo is limited to 4,096 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
GPT-4 Turbo is licensed under a proprietary license, while Phi 4 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
GPT-4 Turbo was released on 2024-04-09, while Phi 4 was released on 2024-12-12.
Phi 4 is 8 months newer than GPT-4 Turbo.
Apr 9, 2024
2.2 years ago
Dec 12, 2024
1.5 years ago
8mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-4 Turbo has a knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while Phi 4 has a cutoff of 2024-06-01.
Phi 4 has more recent training data (up to 2024-06-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to GPT-4 Turbo (2023-12-31).
Dec 2023
Jun 2024
6 mo newerProvider Availability
GPT-4 Turbo is available from Azure, OpenAI. Phi 4 is available from DeepInfra.
GPT-4 Turbo
Phi 4
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
GPT-4 Turbo
View detailsOpenAI
Phi 4
View detailsMicrosoft
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against GPT-4 Turbo and Phi 4 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about GPT-4 Turbo vs Phi 4.