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Phi 4 Mini vs Qwen4-Max-Preview

Comparing Phi 4 Mini and Qwen4-Max-Preview across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Microsoft · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Phi 4 Mini and Qwen4-Max-Preview trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Phi 4 Mini

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Qwen4-Max-Preview

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Phi 4 Mini
Microsoft
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
—

Individual benchmarks

17 reported for Phi 4 Mini · 0 for Qwen4-Max-Preview

No common benchmarks found

Phi 4 Mini and Qwen4-Max-Previewdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Qwen4-Max-Preview supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Mini does not.

Qwen4-Max-Preview can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Phi 4 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Phi 4 Mini is licensed under MIT, while Qwen4-Max-Preview uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Phi 4 Mini

MIT

Open weights

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Phi 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01, while Qwen4-Max-Preview was released on 2026-11-11.

Qwen4-Max-Preview is 22 months newer than Phi 4 Mini.

Phi 4 Mini

Feb 1, 2025

1.8 years ago

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Nov 11, 2026

1 days ago

1.8yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Qwen4-Max-Preview's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi 4 Mini's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen4-Max-Preview's cutoff date.

Phi 4 Mini

Jun 2024

Qwen4-Max-Preview

—

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Phi 4 Mini and Qwen4-Max-Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Phi 4 Mini
✓ Preferred
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Phi 4 Mini vs Qwen4-Max-Preview.

Which is better, Phi 4 Mini or Qwen4-Max-Preview?

Phi 4 Mini (Microsoft) and Qwen4-Max-Preview (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Phi 4 Mini compare to Qwen4-Max-Preview in benchmarks?

Phi 4 Mini scores GSM8k: 88.6%, ARC-C: 83.7%, BoolQ: 81.2%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%, PIQA: 77.6%.

What are the main differences between Phi 4 Mini and Qwen4-Max-Preview?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Phi 4 Mini and Qwen4-Max-Preview?

Phi 4 Mini is developed by Microsoft and Qwen4-Max-Preview is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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