# Grok-2 (Dec 2024) vs Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct

> Grok-2 (Dec 2024) is the stronger model overall, scoring 33.4 to 28.8 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/grok-2-vs-phi-3-small-8k-instruct
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 24

## Summary

- They share 24 benchmarks with published results for both. Grok-2 (Dec 2024) scores higher in 7 categories and Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct in 1 category; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Grok-2 (Dec 2024) leads 48.8 to 31.3.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is LiveBench Reasoning: 54.8% for Grok-2 (Dec 2024) and 15.9% for Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct.
- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | Microsoft |
| Noometry Index | 33.4 | 28.8 |
| Rank | 233 | 310 |
| Context | — | — |
| Input $/M | — | — |
| Output $/M | — | — |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 32.9 (#254)
- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 27.4 (#313)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Coding | 46.4% | 20.3% |
| LMArena Coding | 1288 | 1102 |
| WeirdML | 22.2% | — |

## Reasoning

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 16.4 (#294)
- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 14.2 (#319)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Reasoning | 54.8% | 15.9% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1272 | 1100 |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | 54.5% | 30.3% |
| LiveBench | 54.3% | 24% |
| SimpleBench | 22.7% | — |
| DTBench | 65.2% | — |
| Adversarial NLI | — | 58.1% |
| BIG-Bench Hard | — | 79.1% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 130.48 | — |
| HellaSwag | — | 77% |
| WinoGrande | — | 81.5% |

## Math

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 19.6 (#278)
- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 25.4 (#247)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Math | 54.9% | 17.6% |
| LMArena Math | 1283 | 1151 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 11.5% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 63.5% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 0.7% | — |

## Knowledge

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 29.8 (#225)
- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 28.5 (#237)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1254 | 1067 |
| GPQA Diamond | 53.8% | — |
| Confabulations | 20.1% | — |
| ARC (AI2) Challenge | — | 90.7% |
| MMLU | — | 75.7% |
| OpenBookQA | — | 88% |
| TriviaQA | — | 58.1% |

## Multilingual

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 43.3 (#183)
- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 28.6 (#267)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1282 | 1058 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1289 | 1061 |
| LMArena French | 1317 | 1134 |
| LMArena German | 1287 | 1080 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1244 | 966 |
| LMArena Korean | 1237 | 894 |
| LMArena Russian | 1286 | 1111 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1281 | 1111 |

## Instruction Following

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 67.1 (#197)
- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 52.2 (#287)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Instruction Following | 69.6% | 47.2% |
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1270 | 1087 |

## Long Context

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 38.7 (#186)
- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 33.0 (#262)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1276 | 1088 |

## Writing & Preference

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 48.8 (#192)
- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 31.3 (#279)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1305 | 1110 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1284 | 1083 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1290 | 1068 |
| LiveBench Language | 45.6% | 12.9% |
| Short-Story Creative Writing | 63.6% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Grok-2 (Dec 2024) better than Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct?

Grok-2 (Dec 2024) is the stronger model overall, scoring 33.4 to 28.8 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Grok-2 (Dec 2024) or Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct better for coding?

Grok-2 (Dec 2024) scores higher on coding benchmarks: 32.9 versus 27.4 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Grok-2 (Dec 2024) and Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct share?

24 benchmarks have published results for both models. Grok-2 (Dec 2024) has 34 scored results on Noometry and Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct has 32.