Is GPT-4.1 better than Microsoft Phi-4 for coding?

GPT-4.1 scores 80 overall vs Microsoft Phi-4's 45. GPT-4.1 has stronger benchmark performance, but pricing also matters — GPT-4.1 costs $2.00/M input vs $0.100/M for Microsoft Phi-4.

Which is cheaper: GPT-4.1 or Microsoft Phi-4?

Microsoft Phi-4 is cheaper per million input tokens at $0.10/M vs $2.00/M.

What is the price-performance ratio of GPT-4.1 vs Microsoft Phi-4?

Based on benchmark scores, GPT-4.1 costs $0.063 per score point while Microsoft Phi-4 costs $0.002 per score point. Microsoft Phi-4 offers better value.

GPT-4.1 vs Microsoft Phi-4

Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026

GPT-4.1

OpenAI

Updated GPT-4 generation with improved instruction following and reduced hallucination. Better coding accuracy than GPT-4o.

Input	$2.00/M
Output	$8.00/M
Context	128K tokens
Best For	Production coding, API development, complex instructions
Benchmark	80/100

Microsoft Phi-4

Microsoft

Microsoft's compact 14B model with strong reasoning and coding capability. Excellent value for small-scale deployments.

Input	$0.100/M
Output	$0.300/M
Context	128K tokens
Best For	Edge deployments, local inference, budget coding
Benchmark	45/100

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.

Benchmark	GPT-4.1	Microsoft Phi-4	Leader
Overall Score	80	45	GPT-4.1 leads by 35pts
SWE-bench Verified	76	38	GPT-4.1 leads by 38pts
LiveCodeBench	82	46	GPT-4.1 leads by 36pts
HumanEval	94	68	GPT-4.1 leads by 26pts
BigCodeBench	68	30	GPT-4.1 leads by 38pts

Cost Comparison by Scenario

Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.

Scenario	GPT-4.1	Microsoft Phi-4	Savings
Small Script (1K lines)	$0.31	$0.01	Microsoft Phi-4 saves $0.30 (96%)
Medium Feature (10K lines)	$2.30	$0.10	Microsoft Phi-4 saves $2.20 (96%)
Large Project (50K lines)	$11.50	$0.47	Microsoft Phi-4 saves $11.03 (96%)
Code Review (5K lines)	$0.55	$0.02	Microsoft Phi-4 saves $0.53 (95%)

Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)

Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.

Model	Overall Score	Price per Score Point	Verdict
GPT-4.1	80	$0.063/pt	Higher cost per point
Microsoft Phi-4	45	$0.002/pt	Better value

Microsoft Phi-4 delivers the best value at $0.002 per score point.

Strengths & Weaknesses

GPT-4.1

+ Latest GPT model
+ Strong across all benchmarks
- Premium pricing

Microsoft Phi-4

+ Small model, runs locally
- Limited capacity

Verdict

Microsoft Phi-4 is cheaper at $0.100/M, but GPT-4.1 scores higher on benchmarks (80 vs 45).

Choose Microsoft Phi-4 for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4.1 when performance matters most.

Compare with Other Models

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic

Anthropic's balanced model for coding and general tasks. Best price-performance ratio in the Claude family.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.66 per medium feature

Claude Opus 4

Anthropic

Anthropic's most powerful model. Best for complex reasoning and challenging coding tasks.

$15.00/M input $75.00/M output ~$23.29 per medium feature

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Anthropic

Previous generation Sonnet. Still excellent for coding tasks at the same price point.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.66 per medium feature

Claude 3.5 Haiku

Anthropic

Fast, cost-effective model for high-volume tasks. Great for code review and simple queries.

$0.800/M input $4.00/M output ~$1.24 per medium feature

Claude 3 Opus

Anthropic

First generation Opus. Highest reasoning capability in the Claude 3 family.

$15.00/M input $75.00/M output ~$20.25 per medium feature

Claude 3 Sonnet

Anthropic

First generation Sonnet. Balanced performance for general tasks.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.05 per medium feature