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Phi-3.5-vision-instruct vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct are closely matched at -3.4 and 2.8 on the LLM Stats Score.

Microsoft · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at -3.4 and 2.8.

In the 8 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Phi-4-multimodal-instruct wins 6; 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 Phi-3.5-vision-instruct

  • you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem

Choose Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 6 of 8 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2025

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct
Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Microsoft
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
-3.4
#343
2.8
#311
Reasoning
-4.8
#343
-0.2
#319
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
2 of 8
6 of 8
Input price
— / M
$0.05 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.10 / M
Context window
—
128,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Phi-3.5-vision-instruct
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Vision
-3.6#194
1.6#172
Multimodal
-1.1#156
3.6#141
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

9 reported for Phi-3.5-vision-instruct · 15 for Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

8 shared

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct outperforms in 2 benchmarks (ChartQA, POPE), while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is better at 6 benchmarks (AI2D, InterGPS, MathVista, MMBench, MMMU, TextVQA).

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Thu Sep 10 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

1.4B diff

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has 1.4B more parameters than Phi-3.5-vision-instruct, making it 33.3% larger.

Microsoft
Phi-3.5-vision-instruct
4.2Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
5.6Bparameters
4.2B
Phi-3.5-vision-instruct
5.6B
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Phi-4-multimodal-instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Phi-4-multimodal-instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Microsoft
Phi-3.5-vision-instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Thu Sep 10 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Phi-3.5-vision-instruct and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under MIT.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct was released on 2024-08-23, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct was released on 2025-02-01.

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is 5 months newer than Phi-3.5-vision-instruct.

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct

Aug 23, 2024

2.0 years ago

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Feb 1, 2025

1.6 years ago

5mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while Phi-3.5-vision-instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi-4-multimodal-instruct's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Phi-3.5-vision-instruct's cutoff date.

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct

—

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Jun 2024

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Phi-3.5-vision-instruct and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct
✓ Preferred
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Phi-3.5-vision-instruct vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.

Which is better, Phi-3.5-vision-instruct or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at -3.4 and 2.8. Phi-3.5-vision-instruct is made by Microsoft and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is made by Microsoft. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Phi-3.5-vision-instruct compare to Phi-4-multimodal-instruct in benchmarks?

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct scores ScienceQA: 91.3%, POPE: 86.1%, MMBench: 81.9%, ChartQA: 81.8%, AI2D: 78.1%. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct scores ScienceQA Visual: 97.5%, DocVQA: 93.2%, MMBench: 86.7%, POPE: 85.6%, OCRBench: 84.4%.

What are the context window sizes for Phi-3.5-vision-instruct and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

Phi-3.5-vision-instruct supports an unknown number of tokens and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Phi-3.5-vision-instruct and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (-3.4 vs 2.8). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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