Phi 4 is $0.04 cheaper per 1M input tokens (35% lower; 1.54x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 vs Phi 4
Pick Phi 4 for lower cost; pick Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 only if the larger context window matters more.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Phi 4 for lower cost; pick Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Phi 4 is estimated at $0.14 vs $0.15 for Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, saving $0.02 (10% lower).
Cost-first pickPhi 4
Context-first pickQwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507
Sample savings$0.0210%
10x traffic gap$0.15
Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 has more context, but Phi 4 saves $0.02 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $0.15. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Cost winner changes by workload shape: input-heavy / RAG favors Phi 4, balanced workload favors Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, and output-heavy chatbot favors Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Phi 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Phi 4 | $0.55 | $0.4 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | $0.2 | $0.21 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | $0.6 | $0.77 |
Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 is $0.04 cheaper per 1M output tokens (28.6% lower; 1.4x difference).
Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 has 245.76K more context (16x larger).
Phi 4 is $0.02 cheaper on the standard workload (10% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Phi 4 has the lower input price; Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 has the lower output price; Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Phi 4 is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.15 for Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 and $0.14 for Phi 4.
Choose Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 when you care most about lower output-token price, and larger context window.
Choose Phi 4 when you care most about lower input-token price.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Phi 4 is estimated at $0.14 vs $0.15 for Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, saving $0.02 (10% lower).
- Phi 4 is $0.02 cheaper on the standard workload (10% lower).
- Phi 4 is $0.04 cheaper per 1M input tokens (35% lower; 1.54x difference).
- Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 is $0.04 cheaper per 1M output tokens (28.6% lower; 1.4x difference).
- Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 has 245.76K more context (16x larger).
| Feature | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 (Qwen) | Phi 4 (Microsoft) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.1 | $0.065 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0.1 | $0.14 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.15 | $0.14 |
| Context Window | 262.14K | 16.38K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #129 | #139 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Phi 4 | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Phi 4 is estimated at $0.14 vs $0.15 for Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507, saving $0.02 (10% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Phi 4 | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct (free) can replace Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (free) can replace Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Qwen2.5 7B Instruct can replace Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.09.
- Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 can replace Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.14.
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- DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
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Cheaper alternatives
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Open Qwen modelsMicrosoft catalog
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Open Microsoft modelsQwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is a high-performance, open-weight Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) language model optimized for complex reasoning tasks. It activates 22B of its 235B parameters per forward pass and natively supports up to 262,144...
[Microsoft Research](/microsoft) Phi-4 is designed to perform well in complex reasoning tasks and can operate efficiently in situations with limited memory or where quick responses are needed. At 14 billion...