Model Comparison

Grok-3 Mini vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is 3.5x cheaper per token.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Grok-3 Mini outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Apr 25 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, Grok-3 Mini ($0.30/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.50/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Grok-3 Mini 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
Sat Apr 25 2026 • llm-stats.com
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerxAI
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

Both models have the same input context window of 128,000 tokens. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Grok-3 Mini is limited to 8,000 tokens.

xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sat Apr 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-3 Mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi-3.5-mini-instruct does not.

Grok-3 Mini can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Grok-3 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-3 Mini 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.

Grok-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct was released on 2024-08-23.

Grok-3 Mini is 6 months newer than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.

Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.2 years ago

5mo newer
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Aug 23, 2024

1.7 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok-3 Mini's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without Phi-3.5-mini-instruct's cutoff date.

Grok-3 Mini

Nov 2024

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

—

Provider Availability

Grok-3 Mini is available from xAI. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is available from Azure.

Grok-3 Mini

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.50/1M

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

xAI
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (84.0% vs 30.4%)
Microsoft
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights
xAIGrok-3 Mini
MicrosoftPhi-3.5-mini-instruct
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-3 Mini vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok-3 Mini is made by xAI 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.
Grok-3 Mini scores AIME 2024: 95.8%, AIME 2025: 90.8%, GPQA: 84.0%, LiveCodeBench: 80.4%. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct scores GSM8k: 86.2%, ARC-C: 84.6%, RULER: 84.1%, PIQA: 81.0%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%.
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is 3.0x cheaper for input tokens. Grok-3 Mini costs $0.30/M input and $0.50/M output via xai. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct costs $0.10/M input and $0.10/M output via azure.
Grok-3 Mini supports 128K 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.
Key differences include input pricing ($0.30 vs $0.10/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.
Grok-3 Mini is developed by xAI and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is developed by Microsoft.