Model Comparison

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Phi 4 MiniWhich is better in 2026?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Phi 4 Mini — which is better?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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 Small 3.1 24B Instruct outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 0 benchmarks. Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Mar 2025

Choose Phi 4 Mini if…

  • you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct outperforms in 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Phi 4 Mini is better at 0 benchmarks.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Jul 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

20.2B diff

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct has 20.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini, making it 525.0% larger.

Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
24.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini
3.8Bparameters
24.0B
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
3.8B
Phi 4 Mini

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Phi 4 Mini does not.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi 4 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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 Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Phi 4 Mini

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct was released on 2025-03-17, while Phi 4 Mini was released on 2025-02-01.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is 1 month newer than Phi 4 Mini.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

Mar 17, 2025

1.3 years ago

1mo newer
Phi 4 Mini

Feb 1, 2025

1.5 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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 Small 3.1 24B Instruct's cutoff date.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct

—

Phi 4 Mini

Jun 2024

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Mistral AI
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (46.0% vs 25.2%)
Higher MATH score (69.3% vs 64.0%)
Higher MMLU score (80.6% vs 67.3%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (66.8% vs 52.8%)
Microsoft

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

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Phi 4 Mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
✓ Preferred
Phi 4 Mini
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Mistral AI
Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini

FAQ

Common questions about Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct vs Phi 4 Mini.

Which is better, Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct or Phi 4 Mini?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Mistral Small 3.1 24B 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 Small 3.1 24B Instruct compare to Phi 4 Mini in benchmarks?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct scores HumanEval: 88.4%, MMLU: 80.6%, TriviaQA: 80.5%, MBPP: 74.7%, MATH: 69.3%. Phi 4 Mini scores GSM8k: 88.6%, ARC-C: 83.7%, BoolQ: 81.2%, OpenBookQA: 79.2%, PIQA: 77.6%.

What are the main differences between Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct and Phi 4 Mini?

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 3.1 24B Instruct and Phi 4 Mini?

Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct is developed by Mistral AI and Phi 4 Mini is developed by Microsoft.

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