# DeepSeek-R1 vs Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct

> DeepSeek-R1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/deepseek-r1-vs-phi-3-mini-128k-instruct
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 17

## Summary

- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek-R1 scores higher in 7 categories and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct in 1 category; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where DeepSeek-R1 leads 61.4 to 27.1.
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | Microsoft |
| Noometry Index | 42.3 | 29.7 |
| Rank | 115 | 305 |
| Context | 164K | — |
| Input $/M | $0.50 | — |
| Output $/M | $2.15 | — |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- DeepSeek-R1: 46.3 (#68)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 28.8 (#312)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1427 | 1039 |
| Aider Polyglot | 71.4% | — |
| SciCode | 35.7% | — |
| WeirdML | 41.6% | — |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 29.6% |
| LiveBench Coding | 66.7% | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 40.6% |
| ALE-Bench | 804.12 | — |
| AlgoTune | 1.7 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- DeepSeek-R1: 30.7 (#75)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: —

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| DeepResearch Bench | 35.1% | — |
| BALROG | 34.9% | — |
| METR Time Horizons | 53.8% | — |

## Reasoning

- DeepSeek-R1: 18.6 (#278)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 19.6 (#256)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1416 | 1028 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 1.3% | — |
| SimpleBench | 40.8% | — |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 69.4% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 21.2% | — |
| CritPt | 1.1% | — |
| LiveBench Reasoning | 83.2% | — |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | 69.8% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 141.29 | — |
| ForecastBench | 60 | — |
| LiveBench | 71.6% | — |

## Math

- DeepSeek-R1: 43.8 (#79)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 31.6 (#222)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1400 | 1089 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 66.4% | — |
| Omni-MATH | 42.4% | — |
| LiveBench Math | 80.7% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 96.6% | — |

## Knowledge

- DeepSeek-R1: 44.5 (#87)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 26.8 (#254)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1394 | 984 |
| GPQA Diamond | 76.3% | — |
| MMLU-Pro | 79.3% | — |
| Confabulations | 12.7% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 11.3% | — |
| GPQA (HELM) | 66.6% | — |

## Multilingual

- DeepSeek-R1: 52.4 (#85)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 25.2 (#285)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1412 | 1000 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1442 | 1016 |
| LMArena French | 1417 | 1039 |
| LMArena German | 1404 | 1006 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1391 | 899 |
| LMArena Korean | 1360 | 856 |
| LMArena Russian | 1423 | 1004 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1411 | 1059 |

## Instruction Following

- DeepSeek-R1: 72.0 (#143)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 51.8 (#294)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1382 | 1023 |
| LiveBench Instruction Following | 80.5% | — |
| IFEval | 78.4% | — |

## Long Context

- DeepSeek-R1: 45.4 (#36)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 30.4 (#289)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1391 | 996 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 75% | — |

## Writing & Preference

- DeepSeek-R1: 61.4 (#88)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 27.1 (#301)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1428 | 1050 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1405 | 1024 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1405 | 989 |
| Short-Story Creative Writing | 83% | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1500 | — |
| WildBench | 82.8% | — |
| LiveBench Language | 48.5% | — |

## FAQ

### Is DeepSeek-R1 better than Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct?

DeepSeek-R1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

### Is DeepSeek-R1 or Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct better for coding?

DeepSeek-R1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 46.3 versus 28.8 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do DeepSeek-R1 and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek-R1 has 52 scored results on Noometry and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has 19.