GPT-4.1 vs Phi-3.5 Medium
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
GPT-4.1 specs · Phi-3.5 Medium specs- PriceGPT-4.1
GPT-4.1 publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Phi-3.5 Medium does not.
- Context windowGPT-4.1
GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens vs 128K, 7.8× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksGPT-4.1
GPT-4.1 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on MMLU (broad academic knowledge), where it scores 86.2 vs 78.9.
- ModalitiesGPT-4.1
GPT-4.1 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Phi-3.5 Medium.
- OpennessPhi-3.5 Medium
Phi-3.5 Medium ships open weights (MIT); GPT-4.1 is API-only.
On balance GPT-4.1 edges ahead, winning 4 of 5 categories against Phi-3.5 Medium's 1. GPT-4.1 publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Phi-3.5 Medium does not. GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens vs 128K, 7.8× the room for long documents and codebases.
GPT-4.1 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on MMLU (broad academic knowledge), where it scores 86.2 vs 78.9. They differ in modality coverage, GPT-4.1 handles text, vision while Phi-3.5 Medium handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Phi-3.5 Medium ships open weights (MIT); GPT-4.1 is API-only.
GPT-4.1 is the newer of the two, released 8 months after Phi-3.5 Medium, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-4.1 is usually picked for long context and rag workloads, while Phi-3.5 Medium sees more deployments in on device and edge deployment. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | GPT-4.1 | Phi-3.5 Medium |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Microsoft |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Aug 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | 32.8K tokens | , |
| Input · 1M | $2.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | $8.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-06 | , |
| Open weights | No | Yes (MIT) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$18.00 vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$180 vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$348 vs ,
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- GPT-4.1$0.600
- Phi-3.5 MediumPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU86.278.9
- HumanEval90.6
GPT-4.1 fits when…
- 1M-token context window, strong for long-doc workloads
- Mature SDK and tooling integrations
- Reliable JSON-mode and function-calling
- Long-context tasks, handles 1M tokens vs 128K for Phi-3.5 Medium.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Phi-3.5 Medium fits when…
- MIT license
- 128k context
- Strong reasoning at 14B
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (MIT).
Consider GPT-5.5
OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.
Frequently asked
Is GPT-4.1 or Phi-3.5 Medium cheaper?
Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.Which has the larger context window?
GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens vs 128K for Phi-3.5 Medium.Is GPT-4.1 or Phi-3.5 Medium better for coding?
Both GPT-4.1 and Phi-3.5 Medium are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Phi-3.5 Medium ships open weights (MIT). GPT-4.1 is API-only.When were GPT-4.1 and Phi-3.5 Medium released?
GPT-4.1 was released by OpenAI on 2025-04-14. Phi-3.5 Medium was released by Microsoft on 2024-08-20.
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