We report here on a qualitative and quantitative comparison of four kinetic photon cell survival models. The commonly used linear-quadratic model extended by a dose protraction factor, the lethal potentially lethal model, the repair misrepair model and the recently reported Giant LOop Binary LEsion (GLOBLE) model are discussed with respect to the proposed underlying biological mechanisms explaining the cellular response to radiation. Furthermore, with the use of eight benchmarks, the accuracy, reliability, resolution power and robustness of the models are assessed and compared. This work demonstrates that the linear-quadratic, lethal potentially lethal and GLOBLE models often perform equivalently and that the repair misrepair model appears to have some drawbacks regarding the end points under investigation.