# 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.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/grok-3-mini-vs-phi-3-mini-128k-instruct
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 17

## 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.

## Snapshot

| | Grok-3 mini | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | Microsoft |
| Noometry Index | 41.2 | 29.7 |
| Rank | 141 | 305 |
| Context | — | — |
| Input $/M | — | — |
| Output $/M | — | — |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

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

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1379 | 1039 |
| Aider Polyglot | 49.3% | — |
| WeirdML | 42.6% | — |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 29.6% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 40.6% |

## Reasoning

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

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1375 | 1028 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 0.4% | — |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 61.3% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 16.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 140.35 | — |

## Math

- Grok-3 mini: 42.1 (#85)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 31.6 (#222)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1386 | 1089 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 77.8% | — |
| Omni-MATH | 31.8% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 90.9% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 5.9% | — |

## Knowledge

- Grok-3 mini: 46.4 (#81)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 26.8 (#254)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1395 | 984 |
| GPQA Diamond | 76.3% | — |
| MMLU-Pro | 79.9% | — |
| Confabulations | 10.8% | — |
| GPQA (HELM) | 67.5% | — |

## Multilingual

- Grok-3 mini: 48.1 (#145)
- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 25.2 (#285)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1352 | 1000 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1387 | 1016 |
| LMArena French | 1357 | 1039 |
| LMArena German | 1349 | 1006 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1342 | 899 |
| LMArena Korean | 1335 | 856 |
| LMArena Russian | 1353 | 1004 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1381 | 1059 |

## Instruction Following

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

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1357 | 1023 |
| IFEval | 95.1% | — |

## Long Context

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

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1372 | 996 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 66.7% | — |

## Writing & Preference

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

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1370 | 1050 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1342 | 1024 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1355 | 989 |
| Short-Story Creative Writing | 73.5% | — |
| WildBench | 65.1% | — |

## FAQ

### 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.