Phi 4 Reasoning vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Microsoft · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Phi 4 Reasoning outperforms in 2 benchmarks (HumanEval+, LiveCodeBench), while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is better at 9 benchmarks (AIME 2024, AIME 2025, Arena Hard, FlenQA, GPQA, IFEval, MMLU-Pro, OmniMath, PhiBench). Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Phi 4 Reasoning
- you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem
Choose Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 9 of 11 shared benchmarks
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Phi 4 Reasoning outperforms in 2 benchmarks (HumanEval+, LiveCodeBench), while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is better at 9 benchmarks (AIME 2024, AIME 2025, Arena Hard, FlenQA, GPQA, IFEval, MMLU-Pro, OmniMath, PhiBench).
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has 0.0B more parameters than Phi 4 Reasoning, making it 0.0% larger.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under MIT.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
MIT
Open weights
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Both models were released on 2025-04-30.
They likely represent similar generations of model development.
Apr 30, 2025
1.3 years ago
Apr 30, 2025
1.3 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Both models have the same knowledge cutoff date of 2025-03-01.
They should have similar awareness of historical events and information up to this date.
Mar 2025
Mar 2025
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Phi 4 Reasoning and Phi 4 Reasoning Plus side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Phi 4 Reasoning vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus.