Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus leads the LLM Stats Score 15.2 to 2.6.
IBM · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus leads the overall LLM Stats Score 15.2 to 2.6, ranking #219 overall.
In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Phi 4 Reasoning Plus wins 4; 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 Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
- you want predictable pricing at $0.50/M input and $0.50/M output
Choose Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
- overall performance matters — it scores 15.2 and ranks #219 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 4 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
14 reported for Granite 3.3 8B Instruct · 11 for Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is better at 4 benchmarks (AIME 2024, Arena Hard, HumanEval+, IFEval).
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has 6.0B more parameters than Granite 3.3 8B Instruct, making it 75.0% larger.
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).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Reasoning Plus 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
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
License
Usage and distribution terms
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct was released on 2025-04-16, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus was released on 2025-04-30.
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is 0 month newer than Granite 3.3 8B Instruct.
Apr 16, 2025
1.4 years ago
Apr 30, 2025
1.3 years ago
2w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has a knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has a cutoff of 2025-03-01.
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has more recent training data (up to 2025-03-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Granite 3.3 8B Instruct (2024-04-01).
Apr 2024
Mar 2025
11 mo newerOutputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Phi 4 Reasoning Plus side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus.