Model Comparison

Mistral NeMo Instruct vs Phi 4 MiniWhich is better in 2026?

Mistral NeMo Instruct has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Verdict: Mistral NeMo Instruct vs Phi 4 Mini — which is better?

Mistral NeMo Instruct (by Mistral AI) and Phi 4 Mini (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 3 benchmarks (HellaSwag, MMLU, Winogrande), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 2 benchmarks (OpenBookQA, TruthfulQA). Mistral NeMo Instruct has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Choose Mistral NeMo Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks

Choose Phi 4 Mini if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2025
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Mistral NeMo Instruct outperforms in 3 benchmarks (HellaSwag, MMLU, Winogrande), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 2 benchmarks (OpenBookQA, TruthfulQA).

Mistral NeMo Instruct has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Fri Jun 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

8.2B diff

Mistral NeMo Instruct has 8.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini, making it 212.5% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
12.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
3.8Bparameters
12.0B
Mistral NeMo Instruct
3.8B
Phi 4 Mini

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 4 Mini
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Jun 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral NeMo Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi 4 Mini 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 Mini

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral NeMo Instruct was released on 2024-07-18, while Phi 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01.

Phi 4 Mini is 7 months newer than Mistral NeMo Instruct.

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Jul 18, 2024

1.9 years ago

Phi 4 Mini

Feb 1, 2025

1.4 years ago

6mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Mistral NeMo Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi 4 Mini'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 Mini

Jun 2024

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Higher HellaSwag score (83.5% vs 69.1%)
Higher MMLU score (68.0% vs 67.3%)
Higher Winogrande score (76.8% vs 67.0%)
Microsoft
Higher OpenBookQA score (79.2% vs 60.6%)
Higher TruthfulQA score (66.4% vs 50.3%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral NeMo Instruct vs Phi 4 Mini.

Which is better, Mistral NeMo Instruct or Phi 4 Mini?

Mistral NeMo Instruct has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Mistral NeMo Instruct is made by Mistral AI and Phi 4 Mini 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 4 Mini in benchmarks?

Mistral NeMo Instruct scores HellaSwag: 83.5%, Winogrande: 76.8%, TriviaQA: 73.8%, CommonSenseQA: 70.4%, MMLU: 68.0%. Phi 4 Mini scores GSM8k: 88.6%, ARC-C: 83.7%, BoolQ: 81.2%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%, PIQA: 77.6%.

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

Mistral NeMo Instruct supports 128K tokens and Phi 4 Mini 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 4 Mini?

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 4 Mini?

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

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