o4-mini vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
o4-mini leads the LLM Stats Score 27.5 to 15.0.
OpenAI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
o4-mini leads the overall LLM Stats Score 27.5 to 15.0, ranking #146 overall.
In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, o4-mini wins 3; 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 o4-mini
- overall performance matters — it scores 27.5 and ranks #146 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 3 exact shared results
Choose Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
14 reported for o4-mini · 11 for Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
o4-mini outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, AIME 2025, GPQA), while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is better at 0 benchmarks.
o4-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only o4-mini specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only o4-mini specifies output context (100,000 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
o4-mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Reasoning Plus does not.
o4-mini can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
o4-mini
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
License
Usage and distribution terms
o4-mini is licensed under a proprietary license, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus 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
o4-mini was released on 2025-04-16, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus was released on 2025-04-30.
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is 0 month newer than o4-mini.
Apr 16, 2025
1.4 years ago
Apr 30, 2025
1.4 years ago
2w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
o4-mini has a knowledge cutoff of 2024-05-31, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has a cutoff of 2025-03-01.
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has more recent training data (up to 2025-03-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to o4-mini (2024-05-31).
May 2024
Mar 2025
10 mo newerOutputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against o4-mini and Phi 4 Reasoning Plus side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about o4-mini vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus.