Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Comparing Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
xAI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.
On price, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is roughly 4.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning also accepts a larger context window (2,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning
- you process long inputs — it offers a 2,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2025
Choose Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
- cost matters — it's about 4.4x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning and Phi-4-multimodal-instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning ($0.20/1M tokens) is 4.0x more expensive than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct ($0.05/1M tokens).
For output processing, Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning ($0.50/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning is more expensive than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning accepts 2,000,000 input tokens compared to Phi-4-multimodal-instruct's 128,000 tokens. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning is limited to 30,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning is licensed under a proprietary license, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct 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
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning was released on 2025-11-17, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct was released on 2025-02-01.
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning is 10 months newer than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.
Nov 17, 2025
9 months ago
9mo newerFeb 1, 2025
1.6 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Phi-4-multimodal-instruct's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning's cutoff date.
—
Jun 2024
Provider Availability
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning is available from xAI. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is available from DeepInfra.
Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Grok-4.1 Fast Non-Reasoning vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.