Model comparison

Grok-3 mini vs Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct

Grok-3 mini is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.2 to 33.0 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.

Grok-3 mini xAI

41.2

Rank #141 Confirmed

Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct Microsoft

33.0

Rank #250 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Grok-3 mini scores higher in 7 categories and Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct in 1 category; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in instruction following, where Grok-3 mini leads 78.5 to 57.6.
  • Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Grok-3 mini and Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct specifications
Grok-3 miniPhi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
ProviderxAIMicrosoft
Noometry Index41.233.0
Released2025-04-09—
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window——
Max output——
Input $ / M tokens——
Output $ / M tokens——
Results tracked3517

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

Category by category

Coding Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 40.8 (#131), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 32.9 (#268)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Coding13791130
Aider Polyglot49.3%—
WeirdML42.6%—

Reasoning Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct leads

Grok-3 mini: 13.6 (#334), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 21.7 (#214)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Hard Prompts13751127
ARC-AGI-20.4%—
Kagi LLM Benchmark61.3%—
ARC-AGI-116.5%—
Epoch Capabilities Index140.35—

Math Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 42.1 (#85), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 33.4 (#202)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Math13861173
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202577.8%—
Omni-MATH31.8%—
MATH Level 590.9%—
FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set)5.9%—

Knowledge Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 46.4 (#81), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 30.2 (#229)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Expert13951108
GPQA Diamond76.3%—
MMLU-Pro79.9%—
Confabulations10.8%—
GPQA (HELM)67.5%—

Multilingual Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 48.1 (#145), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 30.6 (#263)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Non-English13521094
LMArena Chinese13871108
LMArena French13571110
LMArena German13491101
LMArena Japanese13421042
LMArena Korean1335954
LMArena Russian13531145
LMArena Spanish13811095

Instruction Following Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 78.5 (#9), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 57.6 (#268)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Instruction Following13571113
IFEval95.1%—

Long Context Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 41.0 (#147), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 34.0 (#255)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Longer Query13721120
Fiction.LiveBench66.7%—

Writing & Preference Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 52.5 (#169), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 34.1 (#272)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Text13701138
LMArena Creative Writing13421107
LMArena Multi-Turn13551088
Short-Story Creative Writing73.5%—
WildBench65.1%—

Frequently asked questions

Is Grok-3 mini better than Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct?

Grok-3 mini is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.2 to 33.0 on the Noometry Index.

Is Grok-3 mini or Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct better for coding?

Grok-3 mini scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.8 versus 32.9 in the Noometry coding category.

How many benchmarks do Grok-3 mini and Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Grok-3 mini has 35 scored results on Noometry and Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct has 17.

Related comparisons

Go deeper