Model comparison

Grok-3 mini vs Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct

Grok-3 mini is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.2 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.

Grok-3 mini xAI

41.2

Rank #141 Confirmed

Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct Microsoft

29.7

Rank #305 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Grok-3 mini 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 instruction following, where Grok-3 mini leads 78.5 to 51.8.
  • Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Grok-3 mini and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct specifications
Grok-3 miniPhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
ProviderxAIMicrosoft
Noometry Index41.229.7
Released2025-04-092024-04-23
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window——
Max output——
Input $ / M tokens——
Output $ / M tokens——
Results tracked3519

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Category by category

Coding Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 40.8 (#131), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 28.8 (#312)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Coding13791039
Aider Polyglot49.3%—
WeirdML42.6%—
BigCodeBench Instruct—29.6%
BigCodeBench Complete—40.6%

Reasoning Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct leads

Grok-3 mini: 13.6 (#334), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 19.6 (#256)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Hard Prompts13751028
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 Mini 128k Instruct: 31.6 (#222)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Math13861089
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 Mini 128k Instruct: 26.8 (#254)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Expert1395984
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 Mini 128k Instruct: 25.2 (#285)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Non-English13521000
LMArena Chinese13871016
LMArena French13571039
LMArena German13491006
LMArena Japanese1342899
LMArena Korean1335856
LMArena Russian13531004
LMArena Spanish13811059

Instruction Following Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 78.5 (#9), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 51.8 (#294)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Instruction Following13571023
IFEval95.1%—

Long Context Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 41.0 (#147), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 30.4 (#289)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Longer Query1372996
Fiction.LiveBench66.7%—

Writing & Preference Grok-3 mini leads

Grok-3 mini: 52.5 (#169), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 27.1 (#301)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGrok-3 miniPhi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Text13701050
LMArena Creative Writing13421024
LMArena Multi-Turn1355989
Short-Story Creative Writing73.5%—
WildBench65.1%—

Frequently asked questions

Is Grok-3 mini better than Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct?

Grok-3 mini is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.2 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

Is Grok-3 mini or Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct better for coding?

Grok-3 mini scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.8 versus 28.8 in the Noometry coding category.

How many benchmarks do Grok-3 mini and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Grok-3 mini has 35 scored results on Noometry and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has 19.

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