GPT-4o mini vs Phi-4

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across knowledge, coding, math, and reasoning.

GPT-4o mini is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 43 to 39. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-4o mini's sharpest advantage is in knowledge, where it averages 82 against 70.5. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MGSM, 87 to 80.6.

GPT-4o mini is also the more expensive model on tokens at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.00 input / $0.00 output per 1M tokens for Phi-4. That is roughly Infinityx on output cost alone. GPT-4o mini gives you the larger context window at 128K, compared with 16K for Phi-4.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-4o mini if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Phi-4 only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Knowledge

GPT-4o mini

GPT-4o mini

82

Phi-4

70.5

82
MMLU
84.8
-
GPQA
56.1

Coding

GPT-4o mini

GPT-4o mini

87.2

Phi-4

82.6

87.2
HumanEval
82.6

Mathematics

Tie

Reasoning

Tie

Instruction Following

Tie

Multilingual

GPT-4o mini

GPT-4o mini

87

Phi-4

80.6

87
MGSM
80.6

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-4o mini or Phi-4?

GPT-4o mini is ahead overall, 43 to 39. The biggest single separator in this matchup is MGSM, where the scores are 87 and 80.6.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-4o mini or Phi-4?

GPT-4o mini has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 82 versus 70.5. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-4o mini or Phi-4?

GPT-4o mini has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 87.2 versus 82.6. Inside this category, HumanEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-4o mini or Phi-4?

GPT-4o mini has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 87 versus 80.6. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 9, 2026

Weekly LLM Benchmark Digest

Get notified when new models drop, benchmark scores change, or the leaderboard shifts. One email per week.

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. We only store derived location metadata for consent routing.