Model Comparison

Gemma 3 1B vs Phi-3.5-mini-instructWhich is better in 2026?

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Gemma 3 1B vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct — which is better?

Gemma 3 1B (by Google) 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.

Gemma 3 1B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is better at 7 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Hard, GPQA, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MBPP, MMLU-Pro). Phi-3.5-mini-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Gemma 3 1B if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2025

Choose Phi-3.5-mini-instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 7 of 7 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

7 benchmarks

Gemma 3 1B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is better at 7 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Hard, GPQA, GSM8k, HumanEval, MATH, MBPP, MMLU-Pro).

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2.8B diff

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct has 2.8B more parameters than Gemma 3 1B, making it 280.0% larger.

Google
Gemma 3 1B
1.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
3.8Bparameters
1.0B
Gemma 3 1B
3.8B
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Phi-3.5-mini-instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Phi-3.5-mini-instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Google
Gemma 3 1B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemma 3 1B is licensed under Gemma, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct uses MIT.

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

Gemma 3 1B

Gemma

Open weights

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemma 3 1B was released on 2025-03-12, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct was released on 2024-08-23.

Gemma 3 1B is 7 months newer than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.

Gemma 3 1B

Mar 12, 2025

1.4 years ago

6mo newer
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Aug 23, 2024

1.9 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

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Google

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Microsoft
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Higher BIG-Bench Hard score (69.0% vs 39.1%)
Higher GPQA score (30.4% vs 19.2%)
Higher GSM8k score (86.2% vs 62.8%)
Higher HumanEval score (62.8% vs 41.5%)
Higher MATH score (48.5% vs 48.0%)
Higher MBPP score (69.6% vs 35.2%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (47.4% vs 14.7%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemma 3 1B and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemma 3 1B
✓ Preferred
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemma 3 1B
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Gemma 3 1B vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.

Which is better, Gemma 3 1B or Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Gemma 3 1B is made by Google 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 Gemma 3 1B compare to Phi-3.5-mini-instruct in benchmarks?

Gemma 3 1B scores IFEval: 80.2%, GSM8k: 62.8%, Natural2Code: 56.0%, MATH: 48.0%, HumanEval: 41.5%. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct scores GSM8k: 86.2%, ARC-C: 84.6%, RULER: 84.1%, PIQA: 81.0%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemma 3 1B and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Gemma 3 1B supports an unknown number of 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 Gemma 3 1B and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Key differences include licensing (Gemma vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemma 3 1B and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Gemma 3 1B is developed by Google and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is developed by Microsoft.

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