Model Comparison

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus vs Qwen2.5 32B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Phi 4 Reasoning Plus vs Qwen2.5 32B Instruct — which is better?

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus (by Microsoft) and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval+, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Phi 4 Reasoning Plus if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025

Choose Qwen2.5 32B Instruct if…

  • you are already invested in the Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team ecosystem

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval+, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jun 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

18.5B diff

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct has 18.5B more parameters than Phi 4 Reasoning Plus, making it 132.1% larger.

Microsoft
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
14.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct
32.5Bparameters
14.0B
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
32.5B
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct

License

Usage and distribution terms

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is licensed under MIT, while Qwen2.5 32B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus

MIT

Open weights

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus was released on 2025-04-30, while Qwen2.5 32B Instruct was released on 2024-09-19.

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is 7 months newer than Qwen2.5 32B Instruct.

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus

Apr 30, 2025

1.1 years ago

7mo newer
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct

Sep 19, 2024

1.7 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-03-01, while Qwen2.5 32B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi 4 Reasoning Plus's training data extends to 2025-03-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen2.5 32B Instruct's cutoff date.

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus

Mar 2025

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Key Takeaways

Higher GPQA score (68.9% vs 49.5%)
Higher HumanEval+ score (92.3% vs 52.4%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (76.0% vs 69.0%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2.5 32B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Microsoft
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Phi 4 Reasoning Plus vs Qwen2.5 32B Instruct.

Which is better, Phi 4 Reasoning Plus or Qwen2.5 32B Instruct?

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is made by Microsoft and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Phi 4 Reasoning Plus compare to Qwen2.5 32B Instruct in benchmarks?

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus scores FlenQA: 97.9%, HumanEval+: 92.3%, IFEval: 84.9%, OmniMath: 81.9%, AIME 2024: 81.3%. Qwen2.5 32B Instruct scores GSM8k: 95.9%, HumanEval: 88.4%, HellaSwag: 85.2%, BBH: 84.5%, MBPP: 84.0%.

What are the main differences between Phi 4 Reasoning Plus and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Phi 4 Reasoning Plus and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct?

Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is developed by Microsoft and Qwen2.5 32B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.