Model Comparison

Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Phi-3.5-mini-instructWhich is better in 2026?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is 60.0x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct — which is better?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (by Anthropic) and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct (by Microsoft) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 8 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Hard, GPQA, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MGSM, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is roughly 60.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 8 of 8 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2024

Choose Phi-3.5-mini-instruct if…

  • cost matters — it's about 60.0x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

8 benchmarks

Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 8 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Hard, GPQA, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MGSM, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jun 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct costs less

For input processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($3.00/1M tokens) is 30.0x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($15.00/1M tokens) is 150.0x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude 3.5 Sonnet is more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Jun 12 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerAnthropic
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.10
Best providerAzure
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Phi-3.5-mini-instruct's 128,000 tokens. Claude 3.5 Sonnet can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Fri Jun 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi-3.5-mini-instruct does not.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is licensed under a proprietary license, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct uses MIT.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Proprietary

Closed source

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released on 2024-10-22, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct was released on 2024-08-23.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is 2 months newer than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Oct 22, 2024

1.6 years ago

2mo newer
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Aug 23, 2024

1.8 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is available from Azure.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

azure logo
Azure
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.10/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher BIG-Bench Hard score (93.1% vs 69.0%)
Higher GPQA score (67.2% vs 30.4%)
Higher GSM8k score (96.4% vs 86.2%)
Higher HumanEval score (93.7% vs 62.8%)
Higher MATH score (78.3% vs 48.5%)
Higher MGSM score (91.6% vs 47.9%)
Higher MMLU score (90.4% vs 69.0%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (77.6% vs 47.4%)
Microsoft
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.

Which is better, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is made by Anthropic and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude 3.5 Sonnet compare to Phi-3.5-mini-instruct in benchmarks?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet scores GSM8k: 96.4%, DocVQA: 95.2%, AI2D: 94.7%, HumanEval: 93.7%, BIG-Bench Hard: 93.1%. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct scores GSM8k: 86.2%, ARC-C: 84.6%, RULER: 84.1%, PIQA: 81.0%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%.

Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet cheaper than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is 30.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude 3.5 Sonnet costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via anthropic. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct costs $0.10/M input and $0.10/M output via azure.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 200K tokens and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Key differences include context window (200K vs 128K), input pricing ($3.00 vs $0.10/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is developed by Anthropic and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is developed by Microsoft.

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