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LongCat-2.5 vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

LongCat-2.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 50.0 to -4.3. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is 5.2x cheaper per token.

Meituan · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

LongCat-2.5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 50.0 to -4.3, ranking #20 overall.

On price, Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is roughly 5.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

LongCat-2.5 also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 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 LongCat-2.5

  • overall performance matters — it scores 50.0 and ranks #20 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026

Choose Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

  • cost matters — it's about 5.2x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

LongCat-2.5
Meituan
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Microsoft
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
50.0
#20
-4.3
#387
Reasoning
48.3
#21
-5.2
#384
Coding
38.6
#27
-6.9
#297
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.30 / M
$0.10 / M
Output price
$1.20 / M
$0.10 / M
Context window
1,048,576
128,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
LongCat-2.5
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Math
37.2#37
-1.6#329
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

23 reported for LongCat-2.5 · 31 for Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

No common benchmarks found

LongCat-2.5 and Phi-3.5-mini-instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct costs less

For input processing, LongCat-2.5 ($0.30/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, LongCat-2.5 ($1.20/1M tokens) is 12.0x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).

In conclusion, LongCat-2.5 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
Mon Nov 02 2026 • llm-stats.com
Meituan
LongCat-2.5
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.20
Best providerMeituan
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.10
Best providerAzure
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

1596.2B diff

LongCat-2.5 has 1596.2B more parameters than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct, making it 42005.3% larger.

Meituan
LongCat-2.5
1.6Tparameters
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
3.8Bparameters
1600.0B
LongCat-2.5
3.8B
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

LongCat-2.5 accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Phi-3.5-mini-instruct's 128,000 tokens. LongCat-2.5 can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Meituan
LongCat-2.5
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mon Nov 02 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

LongCat-2.5 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi-3.5-mini-instruct does not.

LongCat-2.5 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

LongCat-2.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

LongCat-2.5 was released on 2026-11-01, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct was released on 2024-08-23.

LongCat-2.5 is 27 months newer than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.

LongCat-2.5

Nov 1, 2026

0 days ago

2.2yr newer
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct

Aug 23, 2024

2.2 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

LongCat-2.5 is available from Meituan. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is available from Azure.

LongCat-2.5

meituan logo
Meituan
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.20/1M

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?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against LongCat-2.5 and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

LongCat-2.5
✓ Preferred
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about LongCat-2.5 vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.

Which is better, LongCat-2.5 or Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

LongCat-2.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 50.0 to -4.3. LongCat-2.5 is made by Meituan and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does LongCat-2.5 compare to Phi-3.5-mini-instruct in benchmarks?

LongCat-2.5 scores MathVision: 96.5%, BrowseComp: 91.9%, CharXiv-R: 90.2%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 88.4%, Video-MME: 85.2%. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct scores GSM8k: 86.2%, ARC-C: 84.6%, RULER: 84.1%, PIQA: 81.0%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%.

Is LongCat-2.5 cheaper than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is 3.0x cheaper for input tokens. LongCat-2.5 costs $0.30/M input and $1.20/M output via meituan. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct costs $0.10/M input and $0.10/M output via azure.

What are the context window sizes for LongCat-2.5 and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

LongCat-2.5 supports 1.0M 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.

What are the main differences between LongCat-2.5 and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (50.0 vs -4.3), context window (1.0M vs 128K), input pricing ($0.30 vs $0.10/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Unknown vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes LongCat-2.5 and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct?

LongCat-2.5 is developed by Meituan and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is developed by Microsoft.

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