Hermes 3 70B vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Hermes 3 70B leads the LLM Stats Score 4.0 to -3.8. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is 7.0x cheaper per token.
Nous Research · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Hermes 3 70B leads the overall LLM Stats Score 4.0 to -3.8, ranking #320 overall.
In the 11 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Hermes 3 70B wins 6; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is roughly 7.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Hermes 3 70B also accepts a larger context window (131,072 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Hermes 3 70B
- overall performance matters — it scores 4.0 and ranks #320 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 6 of 11 exact shared results
- you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window
Choose Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
- cost matters — it's about 7.0x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2024
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
17 reported for Hermes 3 70B · 31 for Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Hermes 3 70B outperforms in 6 benchmarks (BoolQ, GPQA, HellaSwag, MMLU, PIQA, Winogrande), while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is better at 5 benchmarks (ARC-C, MATH, MMLU-Pro, OpenBookQA, TruthfulQA).
Hermes 3 70B has a slight edge in benchmark performance.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Hermes 3 70B ($0.70/1M tokens) is 7.0x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Hermes 3 70B ($0.70/1M tokens) is 7.0x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Hermes 3 70B is more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Hermes 3 70B has 66.2B more parameters than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct, making it 1742.1% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Hermes 3 70B accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to Phi-3.5-mini-instruct's 128,000 tokens. Hermes 3 70B can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is limited to 128,000 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Hermes 3 70B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct 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
Hermes 3 70B was released on 2024-08-15, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct was released on 2024-08-23.
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is 0 month newer than Hermes 3 70B.
Aug 15, 2024
2.2 years ago
Aug 23, 2024
2.2 years ago
1w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Hermes 3 70B is available from DeepInfra. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is available from Azure.
Hermes 3 70B
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Hermes 3 70B and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Hermes 3 70B vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.