Model Comparison

Mistral Small 3 24B Base vs Phi 4 ReasoningWhich is better in 2026?

Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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

Mistral Small 3 24B Base (by Mistral AI) and Phi 4 Reasoning (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 Small 3 24B Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 Reasoning is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro). Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Base if…

  • you are already invested in the Mistral AI ecosystem

Choose Phi 4 Reasoning if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Mistral Small 3 24B Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Phi 4 Reasoning is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro).

Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

9.6B diff

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has 9.6B more parameters than Phi 4 Reasoning, making it 68.6% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
23.6Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4 Reasoning
14.0Bparameters
23.6B
Mistral Small 3 24B Base
14.0B
Phi 4 Reasoning

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Mistral Small 3 24B Base supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Reasoning does not.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi 4 Reasoning

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral Small 3 24B Base is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi 4 Reasoning 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 Reasoning

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small 3 24B Base was released on 2025-01-30, while Phi 4 Reasoning was released on 2025-04-30.

Phi 4 Reasoning is 3 months newer than Mistral Small 3 24B Base.

Mistral Small 3 24B Base

Jan 30, 2025

1.5 years ago

Phi 4 Reasoning

Apr 30, 2025

1.2 years ago

3mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Base has a knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while Phi 4 Reasoning has a cutoff of 2025-03-01.

Phi 4 Reasoning has more recent training data (up to 2025-03-01), 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 Reasoning

Mar 2025

1.4 yr newer

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Supports multimodal inputs
Microsoft
Higher GPQA score (65.8% vs 34.4%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (74.3% vs 54.4%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

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

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

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small 3 24B Base vs Phi 4 Reasoning.

Which is better, Mistral Small 3 24B Base or Phi 4 Reasoning?

Phi 4 Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3 24B Base is made by Mistral AI and Phi 4 Reasoning is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Mistral Small 3 24B Base compare to Phi 4 Reasoning 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 Reasoning scores FlenQA: 97.7%, HumanEval+: 92.9%, IFEval: 83.4%, OmniMath: 76.6%, AIME 2024: 75.3%.

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

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), 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 Reasoning?

Mistral Small 3 24B Base is developed by Mistral AI and Phi 4 Reasoning is developed by Microsoft.

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