Model Comparison

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct vs Qwen2 7B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct vs Qwen2 7B Instruct — which is better?

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct (by Microsoft) and Qwen2 7B 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 6 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, MATH, MBPP, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen2 7B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (HumanEval). Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 6 of 7 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2024

Choose Qwen2 7B Instruct if…

  • you are already invested in the Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team ecosystem
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

7 benchmarks

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct outperforms in 6 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, MATH, MBPP, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen2 7B Instruct is better at 1 benchmark (HumanEval).

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

52.4B diff

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct has 52.4B more parameters than Qwen2 7B Instruct, making it 687.4% larger.

Microsoft
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
60.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 7B Instruct
7.6Bparameters
60.0B
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
7.6B
Qwen2 7B Instruct

License

Usage and distribution terms

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is licensed under MIT, while Qwen2 7B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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 7B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct was released on 2024-08-23, while Qwen2 7B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is 1 month newer than Qwen2 7B Instruct.

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct

Aug 23, 2024

1.8 years ago

1mo newer
Qwen2 7B 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 GPQA score (36.8% vs 25.3%)
Higher GSM8k score (88.7% vs 82.3%)
Higher MATH score (59.5% vs 49.6%)
Higher MBPP score (80.8% vs 67.2%)
Higher MMLU score (78.9% vs 70.5%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (45.3% vs 44.1%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2 7B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Higher HumanEval score (79.9% vs 70.7%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Microsoft
Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 7B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct vs Qwen2 7B Instruct.

Which is better, Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct or Qwen2 7B Instruct?

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is made by Microsoft and Qwen2 7B 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 7B 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 7B Instruct scores MT-Bench: 84.1%, GSM8k: 82.3%, HumanEval: 79.9%, C-Eval: 77.2%, AlignBench: 72.1%.

What are the main differences between Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct and Qwen2 7B Instruct?

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

Who makes Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct and Qwen2 7B Instruct?

Phi-3.5-MoE-instruct is developed by Microsoft and Qwen2 7B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

Related comparisons