Model Comparison

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct vs Qwen2 72B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Qwen2 72B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Verdict: Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct vs Qwen2 72B Instruct — which is better?

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct (by Microsoft) and Qwen2 72B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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.

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct outperforms in 3 benchmarks (ARC-C, MBPP, TruthfulQA), while Qwen2 72B Instruct is better at 8 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, HellaSwag, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU, MMLU-Pro, Winogrande). Qwen2 72B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Choose Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2024

Choose Qwen2 72B Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 8 of 11 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

11 benchmarks

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct outperforms in 3 benchmarks (ARC-C, MBPP, TruthfulQA), while Qwen2 72B Instruct is better at 8 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, HellaSwag, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU, MMLU-Pro, Winogrande).

Qwen2 72B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Sat Jun 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

12.0B diff

Qwen2 72B Instruct has 12.0B more parameters than Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct, making it 20.0% larger.

Microsoft
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
60.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct
72.0Bparameters
60.0B
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
72.0B
Qwen2 72B Instruct

License

Usage and distribution terms

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is licensed under MIT, while Qwen2 72B Instruct uses tongyi-qianwen.

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

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Qwen2 72B Instruct

tongyi-qianwen

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct was released on 2024-08-23, while Qwen2 72B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is 1 month newer than Qwen2 72B Instruct.

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

Aug 23, 2024

1.8 years ago

1mo newer
Qwen2 72B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

1.9 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Microsoft
Higher ARC-C score (91.0% vs 68.9%)
Higher MBPP score (80.8% vs 80.2%)
Higher TruthfulQA score (77.5% vs 54.8%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2 72B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Higher GPQA score (42.4% vs 36.8%)
Higher GSM8k score (91.1% vs 88.7%)
Higher HellaSwag score (87.6% vs 83.8%)
Higher HumanEval score (86.0% vs 70.7%)
Higher MATH score (59.7% vs 59.5%)
Higher MMLU score (82.3% vs 78.9%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (64.4% vs 45.3%)
Higher Winogrande score (85.1% vs 81.3%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct and Qwen2 72B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
✓ Preferred
Qwen2 72B Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct vs Qwen2 72B Instruct.

Which is better, Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct or Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Qwen2 72B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is made by Microsoft and Qwen2 72B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct compare to Qwen2 72B Instruct in benchmarks?

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct scores ARC-C: 91.0%, OpenBookQA: 89.6%, GSM8k: 88.7%, PIQA: 88.6%, RULER: 87.1%. Qwen2 72B Instruct scores GSM8k: 91.1%, CMMLU: 90.1%, HellaSwag: 87.6%, HumanEval: 86.0%, Winogrande: 85.1%.

What are the main differences between Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct and Qwen2 72B Instruct?

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

Who makes Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct and Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is developed by Microsoft and Qwen2 72B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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