Mistral Large 4 vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Mistral Large 4 leads the LLM Stats Score 46.2 to -3.8. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is 10.3x cheaper per token.
Mistral AI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Mistral Large 4 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 46.2 to -3.8, ranking #34 overall.
On price, Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is roughly 10.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Mistral Large 4 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 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 Mistral Large 4
- overall performance matters — it scores 46.2 and ranks #34 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026
Choose Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
- cost matters — it's about 10.3x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
18 reported for Mistral Large 4 · 31 for Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Mistral Large 4 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
For input processing, Mistral Large 4 ($0.68/1M tokens) is 6.8x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Mistral Large 4 ($2.09/1M tokens) is 20.9x more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct ($0.10/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Mistral Large 4 is more expensive than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Mistral Large 4 has 1046.2B more parameters than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct, making it 27531.6% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Mistral Large 4 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Phi-3.5-mini-instruct's 128,000 tokens. Only Phi-3.5-mini-instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Mistral Large 4 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi-3.5-mini-instruct does not.
Mistral Large 4 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Mistral Large 4
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
License
Usage and distribution terms
Mistral Large 4 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mistral Large 4 was released on 2026-10-06, while Phi-3.5-mini-instruct was released on 2024-08-23.
Mistral Large 4 is 26 months newer than Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.
Oct 6, 2026
1 days ago
2.1yr newerAug 23, 2024
2.1 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Mistral Large 4 is available from Mistral AI. Phi-3.5-mini-instruct is available from Azure.
Mistral Large 4
Phi-3.5-mini-instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Mistral Large 4 and Phi-3.5-mini-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Mistral Large 4 vs Phi-3.5-mini-instruct.