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Hermes 3 405B vs Phi 4 Mini

Hermes 3 405B leads the LLM Stats Score 4.3 to -4.1.

Nous Research · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Hermes 3 405B leads the overall LLM Stats Score 4.3 to -4.1, ranking #309 overall.

In the 8 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Hermes 3 405B wins 6; 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 Hermes 3 405B

  • overall performance matters — it scores 4.3 and ranks #309 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 6 of 8 exact shared results

Choose Phi 4 Mini

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

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Hermes 3 405B
Nous Research
Phi 4 Mini
Microsoft
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
4.3
#309
-4.1
#355
Reasoning
3.7
#307
-4.2
#348
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
6 of 8
2 of 8
Input price
$1.00 / M
— / M
Output price
$1.00 / M
— / M
Context window
131,072
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

3 shared
Index
Hermes 3 405B
Phi 4 Mini
Math
6.7#270
2.3#295
Finance
7.5#159
1.1#192
Legal
8.7#139
1.1#181
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

13 reported for Hermes 3 405B · 17 for Phi 4 Mini

8 shared

Hermes 3 405B outperforms in 6 benchmarks (BoolQ, HellaSwag, MMLU, MMLU-Pro, PIQA, Winogrande), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 2 benchmarks (ARC-C, OpenBookQA).

Hermes 3 405B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Wed Sep 30 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

401.2B diff

Hermes 3 405B has 401.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini, making it 10446.9% larger.

Nous Research
Hermes 3 405B
405.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
3.8Bparameters
405.0B
Hermes 3 405B
3.8B
Phi 4 Mini

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Hermes 3 405B specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only Hermes 3 405B specifies output context (131,072 tokens).

Nous Research
Hermes 3 405B
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Wed Sep 30 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Hermes 3 405B 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.

Hermes 3 405B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Phi 4 Mini

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Hermes 3 405B was released on 2024-10-09, while Phi 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01.

Phi 4 Mini is 4 months newer than Hermes 3 405B.

Hermes 3 405B

Oct 9, 2024

2.0 years ago

Phi 4 Mini

Feb 1, 2025

1.7 years ago

3mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Hermes 3 405B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi 4 Mini's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Hermes 3 405B's cutoff date.

Hermes 3 405B

—

Phi 4 Mini

Jun 2024

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Hermes 3 405B and Phi 4 Mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Hermes 3 405B
✓ Preferred
Phi 4 Mini
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Hermes 3 405B vs Phi 4 Mini.

Which is better, Hermes 3 405B or Phi 4 Mini?

Hermes 3 405B leads the LLM Stats Score 4.3 to -4.1. Hermes 3 405B is made by Nous Research and Phi 4 Mini is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Hermes 3 405B compare to Phi 4 Mini in benchmarks?

Hermes 3 405B scores HellaSwag: 90.2%, MT-Bench: 89.3%, BoolQ: 88.9%, Winogrande: 86.3%, ARC-E: 86.2%. 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 Hermes 3 405B and Phi 4 Mini?

Hermes 3 405B supports 131K 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 Hermes 3 405B and Phi 4 Mini?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (4.3 vs -4.1), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Hermes 3 405B and Phi 4 Mini?

Hermes 3 405B is developed by Nous Research and Phi 4 Mini is developed by Microsoft.

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