Model Comparison

Mistral Small 3 24B Base vs Phi-4-multimodal-instructWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Mistral Small 3 24B Base vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct — which is better?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base (by Mistral AI) and Phi-4-multimodal-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.

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Base if…

  • you are already invested in the Mistral AI ecosystem

Choose Phi-4-multimodal-instruct if…

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

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Phi-4-multimodal-instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

18.0B diff

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has 18.0B more parameters than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct, making it 321.4% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
23.6Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
5.6Bparameters
23.6B
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
5.6B
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Phi-4-multimodal-instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Phi-4-multimodal-instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral Small 3 24B Base is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct uses MIT.

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

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small 3 24B Base was released on 2025-01-30, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct was released on 2025-02-01.

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is 0 month newer than Mistral Small 3 24B Base.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Jan 30, 2025

1.5 years ago

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Feb 1, 2025

1.5 years ago

2d newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has a knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has a cutoff of 2024-06-01.

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has more recent training data (up to 2024-06-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Mistral Small 3 24B Base (2023-10-01).

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Oct 2023

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Jun 2024

8 mo newer

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Microsoft
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base
✓ Preferred
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small 3 24B Base vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.

Which is better, Mistral Small 3 24B Base or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base (Mistral AI) and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct (Microsoft) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Mistral Small 3 24B Base compare to Phi-4-multimodal-instruct in benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base scores ARC-C: 91.3%, GSM8k: 80.7%, MMLU: 80.7%, TriviaQA: 80.3%, MBPP: 69.6%. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct scores ScienceQA Visual: 97.5%, DocVQA: 93.2%, MMBench: 86.7%, POPE: 85.6%, OCRBench: 84.4%.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base supports an unknown number of tokens and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

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

Who makes Mistral Small 3 24B Base and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base is developed by Mistral AI and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is developed by Microsoft.

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