The AI arena is free today

Open Superagent

Mistral NeMo Instruct vs Phi 4

Phi 4 leads the LLM Stats Score 5.4 to -4.8. Mistral NeMo Instruct is 4.0x cheaper per token.

Mistral AI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Phi 4 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 5.4 to -4.8, ranking #299 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Phi 4 wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Mistral NeMo Instruct is roughly 4.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Mistral NeMo Instruct also accepts a larger context window (131,072 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 NeMo Instruct

  • cost matters — it's about 4.0x cheaper per token
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 131,072 token context window

Choose Phi 4

  • overall performance matters — it scores 5.4 and ranks #299 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2024

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Core performance indexes
-4.8
#356
5.4
#299
-5.0
#348
6.5
#290
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
$0.02 / M
$0.07 / M
Output price
$0.03 / M
$0.14 / M
Context window
131,072
16,384

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Phi 4
-8.1#222
12.9#137
-8.1#205
12.9#120
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

8 reported for Mistral NeMo Instruct · 13 for Phi 4

1 shared

Mistral NeMo Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU).

Phi 4 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Mistral NeMo Instruct costs less

For input processing, Mistral NeMo Instruct ($0.02/1M tokens) is 3.7x cheaper than Phi 4 ($0.07/1M tokens).

For output processing, Mistral NeMo Instruct ($0.03/1M tokens) is 4.7x cheaper than Phi 4 ($0.14/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Phi 4 is more expensive than Mistral NeMo Instruct.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com
Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Input tokens$0.02
Output tokens$0.03
Best providerDeepinfra
Microsoft
Phi 4
Input tokens$0.07
Output tokens$0.14
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2.7B diff

Phi 4 has 2.7B more parameters than Mistral NeMo Instruct, making it 22.5% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
12.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4
14.7Bparameters
12.0B
Mistral NeMo Instruct
14.7B
Phi 4

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Mistral NeMo Instruct accepts 131,072 input tokens compared to Phi 4's 16,384 tokens. Mistral NeMo Instruct can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Phi 4 is limited to 16,384 tokens.

Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4
Input16,384 tokens
Output16,384 tokens
Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral NeMo Instruct 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.

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Phi 4

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral NeMo Instruct was released on 2024-07-18, while Phi 4 was released on 2024-12-12.

Phi 4 is 5 months newer than Mistral NeMo Instruct.

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Jul 18, 2024

2.2 years ago

Phi 4

Dec 12, 2024

1.8 years ago

4mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Mistral NeMo Instruct'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 Mistral NeMo Instruct's cutoff date.

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Phi 4

Jun 2024

Provider Availability

Mistral NeMo Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Google, Mistral AI. Phi 4 is available from DeepInfra.

Mistral NeMo Instruct

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.02/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.03/1M
google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.15/1M
mistral logo
Mistral
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.15/1M

Phi 4

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.07/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.14/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mistral NeMo Instruct and Phi 4 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mistral NeMo Instruct
✓ Preferred
Phi 4
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral NeMo Instruct vs Phi 4.

Which is better, Mistral NeMo Instruct or Phi 4?

Phi 4 leads the LLM Stats Score 5.4 to -4.8. Mistral NeMo Instruct is made by Mistral AI and Phi 4 is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Mistral NeMo Instruct compare to Phi 4 in benchmarks?

Mistral NeMo Instruct scores HellaSwag: 83.5%, Winogrande: 76.8%, TriviaQA: 73.8%, CommonSenseQA: 70.4%, MMLU: 68.0%. Phi 4 scores MMLU: 84.8%, HumanEval+: 82.8%, HumanEval: 82.6%, MGSM: 80.6%, MATH: 80.4%.

Is Mistral NeMo Instruct cheaper than Phi 4?

Mistral NeMo Instruct is 3.7x cheaper for input tokens. Mistral NeMo Instruct costs $0.02/M input and $0.03/M output via deepinfra. Phi 4 costs $0.07/M input and $0.14/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral NeMo Instruct and Phi 4?

Mistral NeMo Instruct supports 131K tokens and Phi 4 supports 16K 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 4?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (-4.8 vs 5.4), context window (131K vs 16K), input pricing ($0.02 vs $0.07/M), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mistral NeMo Instruct and Phi 4?

Mistral NeMo Instruct is developed by Mistral AI and Phi 4 is developed by Microsoft.