Magistral Small 2506 vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Mistral AI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Magistral Small 2506 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is better at 4 benchmarks (AIME 2024, AIME 2025, GPQA, LiveCodeBench). Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Magistral Small 2506
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2025
Choose Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Magistral Small 2506 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is better at 4 benchmarks (AIME 2024, AIME 2025, GPQA, LiveCodeBench).
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Magistral Small 2506 has 10.0B more parameters than Phi 4 Reasoning Plus, making it 71.4% larger.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Magistral Small 2506 is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Magistral Small 2506 was released on 2025-06-10, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus was released on 2025-04-30.
Magistral Small 2506 is 1 month newer than Phi 4 Reasoning Plus.
Jun 10, 2025
1.2 years ago
1mo newerApr 30, 2025
1.3 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Magistral Small 2506 has a knowledge cutoff of 2025-06-01, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has a cutoff of 2025-03-01.
Magistral Small 2506 has more recent training data (up to 2025-06-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Phi 4 Reasoning Plus (2025-03-01).
Jun 2025
3 mo newerMar 2025
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Magistral Small 2506 and Phi 4 Reasoning Plus side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Magistral Small 2506 vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus.