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Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct vs Phi 4 Reasoning

Phi 4 Reasoning leads the LLM Stats Score 12.0 to 4.2.

Mistral AI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Phi 4 Reasoning leads the overall LLM Stats Score 12.0 to 4.2, ranking #270 overall.

In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Phi 4 Reasoning wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.05/M input and $0.08/M output

Choose Phi 4 Reasoning

  • overall performance matters — it scores 12.0 and ranks #270 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 4 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Mistral AI
Phi 4 Reasoning
Microsoft
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
4.2
#319
12.0
#270
Reasoning
3.7
#314
12.6
#259
Coding
4.6
#219
6.3
#204
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 4
3 of 4
Input price
$0.05 / M
— / M
Output price
$0.08 / M
— / M
Context window
32,768
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Phi 4 Reasoning
Math
6.9#273
13.6#232
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

8 reported for Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct · 11 for Phi 4 Reasoning

4 shared

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct outperforms in 1 benchmarks (Arena Hard), while Phi 4 Reasoning is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, IFEval, MMLU-Pro).

Phi 4 Reasoning shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Fri Oct 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

10.0B diff

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has 10.0B more parameters than Phi 4 Reasoning, making it 71.4% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
24.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4 Reasoning
14.0Bparameters
24.0B
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
14.0B
Phi 4 Reasoning

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct specifies input context (32,768 tokens). Only Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct specifies output context (32,768 tokens).

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
Input32,768 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Microsoft
Phi 4 Reasoning
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Oct 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct 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 Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Phi 4 Reasoning

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct 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 Instruct.

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Jan 30, 2025

1.7 years ago

Phi 4 Reasoning

Apr 30, 2025

1.4 years ago

3mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct 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 Instruct (2023-10-01).

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct

Oct 2023

Phi 4 Reasoning

Mar 2025

1.4 yr newer

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

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

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Phi 4 Reasoning
Open in Playground

FAQ

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

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

Phi 4 Reasoning leads the LLM Stats Score 12.0 to 4.2. Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is made by Mistral AI and Phi 4 Reasoning 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 Small 3 24B Instruct compare to Phi 4 Reasoning in benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct scores Arena Hard: 87.6%, HumanEval: 84.8%, MT-Bench: 83.5%, IFEval: 82.9%, MATH: 70.6%. Phi 4 Reasoning scores FlenQA: 97.7%, HumanEval+: 92.9%, IFEval: 83.4%, OmniMath: 76.6%, AIME 2024: 75.3%.

What are the context window sizes for Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct and Phi 4 Reasoning?

Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct supports 33K tokens and Phi 4 Reasoning 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 Small 3 24B Instruct and Phi 4 Reasoning?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (4.2 vs 12.0), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct and Phi 4 Reasoning?

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

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