Model Comparison
Small 4 (Reasoning)
vs. Phi-4 Mini Instruct
Comparing 2 AI models · 12 benchmarks · Mistral, Microsoft
Recommended Pick
Mi Small 4 (Reasoning) 12 metric wins Strongest on: Throughput, TTFT, Reasoning
Lowest Price
Phi-4 Mini Instruct
$0.00/1M input price
Best Reasoning
Small 4 (Reasoning)
38.1 reasoning score
Blends available reasoning benchmarks
Best for Coding
Small 4 (Reasoning)
24.3 coding index
Composite Indices
Higher is better; speed and price are normalized
Standard Benchmarks
Only benchmarks with data are shown
Differences That Matter
Price gap
Phi-4 Mini Instruct is ∞x cheaper on input tokens than Small 4 (Reasoning).
Speed gap
Small 4 (Reasoning) generates about 7.0x as many tokens per second as Phi-4 Mini Instruct.
Reasoning gap
Small 4 (Reasoning) leads Phi-4 Mini Instruct by 19.3 points on reasoning.
Coding gap
Small 4 (Reasoning) leads Phi-4 Mini Instruct by 20.7 points on coding.
Top-pick rationale
Small 4 (Reasoning) wins 12 measurable categories, including Throughput, TTFT, Reasoning, Intelligence.
Response Face-Off
Run one prompt through the selected models and compare response quality with live speed and cost context.
Small 4 (Reasoning)
Mistral
TTFT
—
Time
—
tok/s
—
Tokens
—
Cost
—
Phi-4 Mini Instruct
Microsoft
TTFT
—
Time
—
tok/s
—
Tokens
—
Cost
—
Which answer was more useful?
Full Comparison
| Metric | Top Pick Mi Small 4 (Reasoning) | Mi Phi-4 Mini Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing per 1M tokens | ||
| Input Cost | $0.15/1M | $0.00/1M |
| Output Cost | $0.60/1M | $0.00/1M |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.26/1M | — |
| Specifications | ||
| Organization | Mistral | Microsoft |
| Release Date | Mar 16, 2026 | Feb 26, 2024 |
| Performance & Speed | ||
| Throughput | 176.6 tok/s | 25.1 tok/s |
| TTFT | 515ms | 1372ms |
| Latency | 11839ms | 1372ms |
| Composite Indices | ||
| Value Score | 100.0 | — |
| Reasoning Score | 38.1 | 18.8 |
| Intelligence | 27.8 | 8.4 |
| Coding | 24.3 | 3.6 |
| Math | — | 6.7 |
| Standard Benchmarks | ||
| GPQA | 76.9% | 33.1% |
| MMLU Pro | — | 46.5% |
| HLE | 9.5% | 4.2% |
| LiveCodeBench | — | 12.6% |
| MATH 500 | — | 69.6% |
| AIME 2025 | — | 6.7% |
| AIME (Original) | — | 3.0% |
| SciCode | 38.0% | 10.8% |
| LCR | 44.7% | 13.7% |
| IFBench | 48.2% | 21.1% |
| TAU-bench v2 | 41.2% | 8.2% |
| TerminalBench Hard | 17.4% | 0.0% |
Key Takeaways
Phi-4 Mini Instruct offers the best value at $0.00/1M, making it ideal for high-volume applications and cost-conscious projects.
Small 4 (Reasoning) has the strongest reasoning profile with a 38.1 reasoning score, combining the available reasoning-heavy benchmarks.
Small 4 (Reasoning) reaches a 24.3 coding index, making it the top choice for software development and code generation tasks.
All models support context windows of ∞+ tokens, suitable for processing lengthy documents and maintaining extended conversations.
When to Choose Each Model
Small 4 (Reasoning)
- Complex reasoning tasks
- Research & analysis
- Code generation
- Software development
Phi-4 Mini Instruct
- Cost-sensitive applications
- High-volume processing
