LLMversus

Phi-4 vs Qwen 2.5 Max: Pricing, Benchmarks & Verdict (2026)

Pricing verified Sep 14, 2026By LLMversusUpdated September 17, 2026View methodology

⚡ Quick Answer

Phi-4 is significantly cheaper at $0.07/$0.14 per million tokens vs $0.16/$0.64. Qwen 2.5 Max is stronger for coding with a coding ELO of 1250 vs 1130. Phi-4 is faster at 160 tokens/sec vs 80 tokens/sec. Qwen 2.5 Max ranks higher overall with an Arena ELO of 1260 vs 1150. Qwen 2.5 Max offers a larger 128K context window vs 16K.

Updated: September 14, 2026 · ✓ Pricing verified

Side-by-Side Comparison

FeaturePhi-4Qwen 2.5 Max
ProviderMicrosoftAlibaba
Input Price / 1M tokens$0.070$0.160
Output Price / 1M tokens$0.140$0.640
Context Window
16.384K
128K
Max Output Tokens
4,096
8,192
Arena ELO
1,150
1,374
Coding ELO
1,130
1,374
TTFT (ms)
100
240
Tokens/sec
160
80
MultimodalNoNo
JSON ModeYesYes
Function CallingNoYes
VisionNoNo
When to Use Phi-4

Choose Phi-4 when you need: ultra-low cost for a capable model, strong math for its size (14b params), very fast inference, can run on consumer hardware. It excels at cost-sensitive, edge-deployment, math, lightweight-tasks tasks. It is also the more cost-effective option between the two.

Strengths:

  • Ultra-low cost for a capable model
  • Strong math for its size (14B params)
  • Very fast inference
  • Can run on consumer hardware

Best for:

cost-sensitiveedge-deploymentmathlightweight-tasks
When to Use Qwen 2.5 Max

Choose Qwen 2.5 Max when you need: extremely competitive pricing, strong coding and general capabilities, open-source model available, good multilingual support including chinese. It excels at coding, general-purpose, cost-sensitive, open-source tasks. Its 128K context window is larger, making it better for long-document processing.

Strengths:

  • Extremely competitive pricing
  • Strong coding and general capabilities
  • Open-source model available
  • Good multilingual support including Chinese

Best for:

codinggeneral-purposecost-sensitiveopen-source

Frequently Asked Questions

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