Phi 4 Reasoning vs QwQ-32B-Preview
Phi 4 Reasoning and QwQ-32B-Preview are closely matched at 12.1 and 9.1 on the LLM Stats Score.
Microsoft · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Phi 4 Reasoning and QwQ-32B-Preview are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 12.1 and 9.1.
In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Phi 4 Reasoning 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 Phi 4 Reasoning
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 3 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
Choose QwQ-32B-Preview
- you want predictable pricing at $0.15/M input and $0.20/M output
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
11 reported for Phi 4 Reasoning · 4 for QwQ-32B-Preview
Phi 4 Reasoning outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA, LiveCodeBench), while QwQ-32B-Preview is better at 0 benchmarks.
Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
QwQ-32B-Preview has 18.5B more parameters than Phi 4 Reasoning, making it 132.1% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only QwQ-32B-Preview specifies input context (32,768 tokens). Only QwQ-32B-Preview specifies output context (32,768 tokens).
License
Usage and distribution terms
Phi 4 Reasoning is licensed under MIT, while QwQ-32B-Preview uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Phi 4 Reasoning was released on 2025-04-30, while QwQ-32B-Preview was released on 2024-11-28.
Phi 4 Reasoning is 5 months newer than QwQ-32B-Preview.
Apr 30, 2025
1.4 years ago
5mo newerNov 28, 2024
1.8 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Phi 4 Reasoning has a knowledge cutoff of 2025-03-01, while QwQ-32B-Preview has a cutoff of 2024-11-28.
Phi 4 Reasoning has more recent training data (up to 2025-03-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to QwQ-32B-Preview (2024-11-28).
Mar 2025
4 mo newerNov 2024
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Phi 4 Reasoning and QwQ-32B-Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Phi 4 Reasoning vs QwQ-32B-Preview.