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DeepSeek-V2.5 vs Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

DeepSeek-V2.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 8.4 to 1.9.

DeepSeek · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek-V2.5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 8.4 to 1.9, ranking #270 overall.

In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, DeepSeek-V2.5 wins 5; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose DeepSeek-V2.5

  • overall performance matters — it scores 8.4 and ranks #270 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 5 of 5 exact shared results

Choose Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2024

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Core performance indexes
8.4
#270
1.9
#306
8.4
#263
1.4
#299
6.5
#183
-3.8
#245
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
5 of 5
0 of 5
Input price
$0.14 / M
— / M
Output price
$0.28 / M
— / M
Context window
8,192

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
DeepSeek-V2.5
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
14.4#212
4.7#274
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

15 reported for DeepSeek-V2.5 · 31 for Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

5 shared

DeepSeek-V2.5 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (Arena Hard, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU), while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

DeepSeek-V2.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Sep 05 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

176.0B diff

DeepSeek-V2.5 has 176.0B more parameters than Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct, making it 293.3% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek-V2.5
236.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
60.0Bparameters
236.0B
DeepSeek-V2.5
60.0B
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only DeepSeek-V2.5 specifies input context (8,192 tokens). Only DeepSeek-V2.5 specifies output context (8,192 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek-V2.5
Input8,192 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sat Sep 05 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek-V2.5 is licensed under deepseek, while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct uses MIT.

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

DeepSeek-V2.5

deepseek

Open weights

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek-V2.5 was released on 2024-05-08, while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct was released on 2024-08-23.

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is 4 months newer than DeepSeek-V2.5.

DeepSeek-V2.5

May 8, 2024

2.3 years ago

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

Aug 23, 2024

2.0 years ago

3mo newer

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

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek-V2.5 and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek-V2.5
✓ Preferred
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek-V2.5 vs Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct.

Which is better, DeepSeek-V2.5 or Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct?

DeepSeek-V2.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 8.4 to 1.9. DeepSeek-V2.5 is made by DeepSeek and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does DeepSeek-V2.5 compare to Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct in benchmarks?

DeepSeek-V2.5 scores GSM8k: 95.1%, MT-Bench: 90.2%, HumanEval: 89.0%, BBH: 84.3%, AlignBench: 80.4%. Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct scores ARC-C: 91.0%, OpenBookQA: 89.6%, GSM8k: 88.7%, PIQA: 88.6%, RULER: 87.1%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek-V2.5 and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct?

DeepSeek-V2.5 supports 8K tokens and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek-V2.5 and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (8.4 vs 1.9), licensing (deepseek vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek-V2.5 and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct?

DeepSeek-V2.5 is developed by DeepSeek and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is developed by Microsoft.