Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) vs Phi 4
Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) and Phi 4 are closely matched at 2.2 and 5.4 on the LLM Stats Score.
Mistral AI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) and Phi 4 are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 2.2 and 5.4.
The models split the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models evenly.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
Choose Phi 4
- you want predictable pricing at $0.07/M input and $0.14/M output
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
4 reported for Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) · 13 for Phi 4
Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MATH), while Phi 4 is better at 1 benchmark (Arena Hard).
Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Phi 4 has 11.7B more parameters than Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512), making it 390.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Phi 4 specifies input context (16,384 tokens). Only Phi 4 specifies output context (16,384 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 does not.
Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)
Phi 4
License
Usage and distribution terms
Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi 4 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
Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) was released on 2025-12-04, while Phi 4 was released on 2024-12-12.
Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) is 12 months newer than Phi 4.
Dec 4, 2025
10 months ago
11mo newerDec 12, 2024
1.8 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Phi 4 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)'s cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Phi 4's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512)'s cutoff date.
—
Jun 2024
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) and Phi 4 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Ministral 3 (3B Instruct 2512) vs Phi 4.