Model Comparison

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Phi 4 MiniWhich is better in 2026?

Phi 4 Mini has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Verdict: Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Phi 4 Mini — which is better?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct (by IBM) and Phi 4 Mini (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.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct outperforms in 2 benchmarks (Arena Hard, TruthfulQA), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 3 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Hard, GSM8k, MMLU). Phi 4 Mini has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Choose Granite 3.3 8B Instruct if…

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

Choose Phi 4 Mini if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct outperforms in 2 benchmarks (Arena Hard, TruthfulQA), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 3 benchmarks (BIG-Bench Hard, GSM8k, MMLU).

Phi 4 Mini has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

4.2B diff

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has 4.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini, making it 108.3% larger.

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
8.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
3.8Bparameters
8.0B
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
3.8B
Phi 4 Mini

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Granite 3.3 8B Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Granite 3.3 8B Instruct specifies output context (8,192 tokens).

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Mini does not.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi 4 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi 4 Mini uses MIT.

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

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Phi 4 Mini

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct was released on 2025-04-16, while Phi 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is 2 months newer than Phi 4 Mini.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct

Apr 16, 2025

1.3 years ago

2mo newer
Phi 4 Mini

Feb 1, 2025

1.5 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has a knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while Phi 4 Mini has a cutoff of 2024-06-01.

Phi 4 Mini has more recent training data (up to 2024-06-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Granite 3.3 8B Instruct (2024-04-01).

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct

Apr 2024

Phi 4 Mini

Jun 2024

2 mo newer

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

IBM
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher Arena Hard score (57.6% vs 32.8%)
Higher TruthfulQA score (66.9% vs 66.4%)
Microsoft
Higher BIG-Bench Hard score (70.4% vs 69.1%)
Higher GSM8k score (88.6% vs 80.9%)
Higher MMLU score (67.3% vs 65.5%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Phi 4 Mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Phi 4 Mini
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini

FAQ

Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Phi 4 Mini.

Which is better, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct or Phi 4 Mini?

Phi 4 Mini has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is made by IBM and Phi 4 Mini is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Granite 3.3 8B Instruct compare to Phi 4 Mini in benchmarks?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct scores HumanEval: 89.7%, AttaQ: 88.5%, HumanEval+: 86.1%, AIME 2024: 81.2%, GSM8k: 80.9%. Phi 4 Mini scores GSM8k: 88.6%, ARC-C: 83.7%, BoolQ: 81.2%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%, PIQA: 77.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Phi 4 Mini?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct supports 128K tokens and Phi 4 Mini 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 Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Phi 4 Mini?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Phi 4 Mini?

Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is developed by IBM and Phi 4 Mini is developed by Microsoft.

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