Model Comparison

Mistral NeMo Instruct vs Phi-3.5-MoE-instructWhich is better in 2026?

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Mistral NeMo Instruct vs Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct — which is better?

Mistral NeMo Instruct (by Mistral AI) and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct (by Microsoft) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Mistral NeMo Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is better at 5 benchmarks (HellaSwag, MMLU, OpenBookQA, TruthfulQA, Winogrande). Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Mistral NeMo Instruct if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.15/M input and $0.15/M output

Choose Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 5 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2024

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Mistral NeMo Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is better at 5 benchmarks (HellaSwag, MMLU, OpenBookQA, TruthfulQA, Winogrande).

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

48.0B diff

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct has 48.0B more parameters than Mistral NeMo Instruct, making it 400.0% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
12.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
60.0Bparameters
12.0B
Mistral NeMo Instruct
60.0B
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral NeMo Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Mistral NeMo Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral NeMo Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct uses MIT.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral NeMo Instruct was released on 2024-07-18, while Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct was released on 2024-08-23.

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is 1 month newer than Mistral NeMo Instruct.

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Jul 18, 2024

2.0 years ago

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

Aug 23, 2024

1.9 years ago

1mo newer

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

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Microsoft
Higher HellaSwag score (83.8% vs 83.5%)
Higher MMLU score (78.9% vs 68.0%)
Higher OpenBookQA score (89.6% vs 60.6%)
Higher TruthfulQA score (77.5% vs 50.3%)
Higher Winogrande score (81.3% vs 76.8%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mistral NeMo Instruct and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mistral NeMo Instruct
✓ Preferred
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral NeMo Instruct vs Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct.

Which is better, Mistral NeMo Instruct or Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct?

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral NeMo Instruct is made by Mistral AI and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Mistral NeMo Instruct compare to Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct in benchmarks?

Mistral NeMo Instruct scores HellaSwag: 83.5%, Winogrande: 76.8%, TriviaQA: 73.8%, CommonSenseQA: 70.4%, MMLU: 68.0%. Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct scores ARC-C: 91.0%, OpenBookQA: 89.6%, GSM8k: 88.7%, PIQA: 88.6%, RULER: 87.1%.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral NeMo Instruct and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct?

Mistral NeMo Instruct supports 128K tokens and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Mistral NeMo Instruct and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct?

Key differences include licensing (Apache 2.0 vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mistral NeMo Instruct and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct?

Mistral NeMo Instruct is developed by Mistral AI and Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is developed by Microsoft.

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