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Kimi K2 Instruct vs Phi 4 Mini

Kimi K2 Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Moonshot AI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Kimi K2 Instruct outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 0 benchmarks. Kimi K2 Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Kimi K2 Instruct

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2025

Choose Phi 4 Mini

  • you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Kimi K2 Instruct
Moonshot AI
Phi 4 Mini
Microsoft
Benchmark wins
4 of 4
0 of 4
Input price
$0.50 / M
— / M
Output price
$0.50 / M
— / M
Context window
200,000
—
Released
Jul 2025
Feb 2025
License
MIT
MIT

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Kimi K2 Instruct outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 0 benchmarks.

Kimi K2 Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

996.2B diff

Kimi K2 Instruct has 996.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini, making it 25941.7% larger.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct
1.0Tparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
3.8Bparameters
1000.0B
Kimi K2 Instruct
3.8B
Phi 4 Mini

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Kimi K2 Instruct specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Kimi K2 Instruct specifies output context (200,000 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under MIT.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Kimi K2 Instruct

MIT

Open weights

Phi 4 Mini

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2 Instruct was released on 2025-07-11, while Phi 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01.

Kimi K2 Instruct is 5 months newer than Phi 4 Mini.

Kimi K2 Instruct

Jul 11, 2025

1.1 years ago

5mo newer
Phi 4 Mini

Feb 1, 2025

1.6 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Kimi K2 Instruct'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 Kimi K2 Instruct's cutoff date.

Kimi K2 Instruct

—

Phi 4 Mini

Jun 2024

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Kimi K2 Instruct and Phi 4 Mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K2 Instruct
✓ Preferred
Phi 4 Mini
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2 Instruct vs Phi 4 Mini.

Which is better, Kimi K2 Instruct or Phi 4 Mini?

Kimi K2 Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi K2 Instruct is made by Moonshot AI 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 Kimi K2 Instruct compare to Phi 4 Mini in benchmarks?

Kimi K2 Instruct scores MATH-500: 97.4%, GSM8k: 97.3%, CBNSL: 95.6%, HumanEval: 93.3%, MMLU-Redux: 92.7%. 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 Kimi K2 Instruct and Phi 4 Mini?

Kimi K2 Instruct supports 200K 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.

Who makes Kimi K2 Instruct and Phi 4 Mini?

Kimi K2 Instruct is developed by Moonshot AI and Phi 4 Mini is developed by Microsoft.

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