# Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct vs Qwen3.5-9B

> Qwen3.5-9B is the stronger model overall, scoring 33.8 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/phi-3-mini-128k-instruct-vs-qwen3-5-9b
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen3.5-9B leads 46.0 to 26.8.

## Snapshot

| | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Microsoft | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 29.7 | 33.8 |
| Rank | 305 | 236 |
| Context | — | 262K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | — | $0.15 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 28.8 (#312)
- Qwen3.5-9B: 35.9 (#217)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | — | 27.5% |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 29.6% | — |
| LMArena Coding | 1039 | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 40.6% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: —
- Qwen3.5-9B: 14.5 (#151)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | — | 9.2% |

## Reasoning

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 19.6 (#256)
- Qwen3.5-9B: 23.1 (#182)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | — | 0.3% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 12% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1028 | — |
| DTBench | — | 71.2% |
| LMCA | — | 24.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 139.46 |

## Math

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 31.6 (#222)
- Qwen3.5-9B: 34.8 (#192)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 48.5% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 61.7% |
| LMArena Math | 1089 | — |

## Knowledge

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 26.8 (#254)
- Qwen3.5-9B: 46.0 (#84)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | — | 79% |
| LMArena Expert | 984 | — |

## Multilingual

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 25.2 (#285)
- Qwen3.5-9B: —

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1000 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1016 | — |
| LMArena French | 1039 | — |
| LMArena German | 1006 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 899 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 856 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1004 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1059 | — |

## Instruction Following

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 51.8 (#294)
- Qwen3.5-9B: —

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1023 | — |

## Long Context

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 30.4 (#289)
- Qwen3.5-9B: —

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 996 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 27.1 (#301)
- Qwen3.5-9B: —

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1050 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1024 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 989 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct better than Qwen3.5-9B?

Qwen3.5-9B is the stronger model overall, scoring 33.8 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct or Qwen3.5-9B better for coding?

Qwen3.5-9B scores higher on coding benchmarks: 35.9 versus 28.8 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct and Qwen3.5-9B share?

0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has 19 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.5-9B has 10.
