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Grok 4.6 vs Phi 4

Comparing Grok 4.6 and Phi 4 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

xAI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Grok 4.6 and Phi 4 trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

On price, Phi 4 is roughly 34.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Grok 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (500,000 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 4.6

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 500,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Choose Phi 4

  • cost matters — it's about 34.3x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Grok 4.6
xAI
Phi 4
Microsoft
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$2.00 / M
$0.07 / M
Output price
$6.00 / M
$0.14 / M
Context window
500,000
16,000
Released
Aug 2026
Dec 2024
License
Proprietary
MIT

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Grok 4.6 and Phi 4don'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

Phi 4 costs less

For input processing, Grok 4.6 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 28.6x more expensive than Phi 4 ($0.07/1M tokens).

For output processing, Grok 4.6 ($6.00/1M tokens) is 42.9x more expensive than Phi 4 ($0.14/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Grok 4.6 is more expensive than Phi 4.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com
xAI
Grok 4.6
Input tokens$2.00
Output tokens$6.00
Best providerxAI
Microsoft
Phi 4
Input tokens$0.07
Output tokens$0.14
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Grok 4.6 accepts 500,000 input tokens compared to Phi 4's 16,000 tokens. Only Phi 4 specifies output context (16,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok 4.6
Input500,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4
Input16,000 tokens
Output16,000 tokens
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok 4.6 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 does not.

Grok 4.6 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Grok 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi 4

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok 4.6 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.

Grok 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Phi 4

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok 4.6 was released on 2026-08-12, while Phi 4 was released on 2024-12-12.

Grok 4.6 is 20 months newer than Phi 4.

Grok 4.6

Aug 12, 2026

1 weeks ago

1.7yr newer
Phi 4

Dec 12, 2024

1.7 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok 4.6 has a knowledge cutoff of 2026-02-01, while Phi 4 has a cutoff of 2024-06-01.

Grok 4.6 has more recent training data (up to 2026-02-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Phi 4 (2024-06-01).

Grok 4.6

Feb 2026

1.7 yr newer
Phi 4

Jun 2024

Provider Availability

Grok 4.6 is available from xAI. Phi 4 is available from DeepInfra.

Grok 4.6

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $6.00/1M

Phi 4

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.07/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.14/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok 4.6 and Phi 4 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok 4.6
✓ Preferred
Phi 4
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Grok 4.6 vs Phi 4.

Which is better, Grok 4.6 or Phi 4?

Grok 4.6 (xAI) and Phi 4 (Microsoft) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Grok 4.6 compare to Phi 4 in benchmarks?

Grok 4.6 scores CursorBench v3.2: 69.9%, DeepSWE 1.1: 65.9%, FrontierCode: 61.3%, AA-Index: 61.0%, GDPval-AA: 58.4%. Phi 4 scores MMLU: 84.8%, HumanEval+: 82.8%, HumanEval: 82.6%, MGSM: 80.6%, MATH: 80.4%.

Is Grok 4.6 cheaper than Phi 4?

Phi 4 is 28.6x cheaper for input tokens. Grok 4.6 costs $2.00/M input and $6.00/M output via xai. Phi 4 costs $0.07/M input and $0.14/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Grok 4.6 and Phi 4?

Grok 4.6 supports 500K tokens and Phi 4 supports 16K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Grok 4.6 and Phi 4?

Key differences include context window (500K vs 16K), input pricing ($2.00 vs $0.07/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok 4.6 and Phi 4?

Grok 4.6 is developed by xAI and Phi 4 is developed by Microsoft.

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