# Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct vs Qwen3.6 35B-A3B

> Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the stronger model overall, scoring 37.6 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/phi-3-mini-128k-instruct-vs-qwen3-6-35b-a3b
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen3.6 35B-A3B leads 51.3 to 26.8.

## Snapshot

| | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Microsoft | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 29.7 | 37.6 |
| Rank | 305 | 201 |
| Context | — | 262K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.25 |
| Output $/M | — | $1.49 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 28.8 (#312)
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: 37.2 (#196)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | — | 35.8% |
| WeirdML | — | 34.5% |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 29.6% | — |
| LMArena Coding | 1039 | — |
| BigCodeBench Complete | 40.6% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: —
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: 22.1 (#134)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | — | 23% |

## Reasoning

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 19.6 (#256)
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: 28.0 (#109)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 41.6% |
| CritPt | — | 0.3% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 26% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1028 | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 22% |
| DTBench | — | 73.9% |
| LMCA | — | 29.7% |
| Surface Evolver Bench | — | 44.4% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 143.93 |

## Math

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 31.6 (#222)
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: 38.9 (#121)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | — | 20.4% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 86.7% |
| LMArena Math | 1089 | — |

## Knowledge

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 26.8 (#254)
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: 51.3 (#68)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | — | 84.8% |
| LMArena Expert | 984 | — |

## Multilingual

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 25.2 (#285)
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: —

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| 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)
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: —

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1023 | — |

## Long Context

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 30.4 (#289)
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: —

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 996 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 27.1 (#301)
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: —

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1050 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1024 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 989 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct better than Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the stronger model overall, scoring 37.6 to 29.7 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B better for coding?

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B scores higher on coding benchmarks: 37.2 versus 28.8 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B share?

0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has 19 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B has 14.