Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Mistral AI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, AIME 2025, LiveCodeBench), while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
Choose Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
- you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, AIME 2025, LiveCodeBench), while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has 6.0B more parameters than Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512), making it 75.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) specifies input context (262,100 tokens). Only Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) specifies output context (262,100 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Reasoning Plus does not.
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus
License
Usage and distribution terms
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus 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 (8B Reasoning 2512) was released on 2025-12-04, while Phi 4 Reasoning Plus was released on 2025-04-30.
Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) is 7 months newer than Phi 4 Reasoning Plus.
Dec 4, 2025
8 months ago
7mo newerApr 30, 2025
1.3 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Phi 4 Reasoning Plus has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-03-01, while Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)'s cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Phi 4 Reasoning Plus's training data extends to 2025-03-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512)'s cutoff date.
—
Mar 2025
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) and Phi 4 Reasoning Plus side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Ministral 3 (8B Reasoning 2512) vs Phi 4 Reasoning Plus.
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