Model comparison

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.5 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite Google

41.5

Rank #133 Confirmed

Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct Microsoft

29.7

Rank #305 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite scores higher in 7 categories and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct in 1 category; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads 64.2 to 27.1.
  • Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct specifications
Gemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
ProviderGoogleMicrosoft
Noometry Index41.529.7
Released2026-07-212024-04-23
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1.05M—
Max output66K—
Input $ / M tokens$0.30—
Output $ / M tokens$2.50—
Results tracked3919

Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry

Category by category

Coding Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 42.4 (#104), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 28.8 (#312)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Coding14531039
LMArena WebDev1440—
SciCode41.3%—
WeirdML39%—
BigCodeBench Instruct—29.6%
BigCodeBench Complete—40.6%
ALE-Bench765.27—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 25.7 (#107), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
APEX-Agents29.3%—
GDP.pdf10%—

Reasoning Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 27.8 (#114), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 19.6 (#256)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Hard Prompts14411028
ARC-AGI-210.3%—
NYT Connections (extended)60.4%—
ARC-AGI-153.5%—
CritPt0%—
Chess Puzzles22%—
Mystery Game Puzzles19%—
DTBench83.5%—
LMCA37.6%—
Epoch Capabilities Index145.13—

Math Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct leads

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 25.9 (#264), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 31.6 (#222)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Math14331089
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)26%—
FrontierMath Tier 40%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202571.1%—
ProofBench13%—

Knowledge Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 50.1 (#72), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 26.8 (#254)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Expert1435984
GPQA Diamond83.3%—

Multimodal Not comparable

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 41.1 (#40), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: —

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Vision1268—

Multilingual Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 53.5 (#63), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 25.2 (#285)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Non-English14271000
LMArena Chinese14691016
LMArena French14511039
LMArena German14541006
LMArena Japanese1427899
LMArena Korean1407856
LMArena Russian14431004
LMArena Spanish14421059

Instruction Following Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 74.8 (#85), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 51.8 (#294)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Instruction Following14201023

Long Context Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 43.9 (#84), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 30.4 (#289)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Longer Query1435996

Writing & Preference Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 64.2 (#57), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 27.1 (#301)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 Flash LitePhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Text14351050
LMArena Creative Writing14201024
LMArena Multi-Turn1445989
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1559—

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.5 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct better for coding?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 28.8 in the Noometry coding category.

How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has 39 scored results on Noometry and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has 19.

Related comparisons

Go deeper