# Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 27.9 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/phi-3-mini-4k-instruct-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 17

## Summary

- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct scores higher in 0 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 58.8 to 27.6.

## Snapshot

| | Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Microsoft | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 27.9 | 42.3 |
| Rank | 328 | 116 |
| Context | — | 256K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | — | $0.30 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct: 26.6 (#323)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1093 | 1436 |
| LiveBench Coding | 15.5% | — |
| HumanEval+ | 59.1% | — |
| MBPP+ | 54.2% | — |

## Reasoning

- Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct: 14.1 (#328)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1072 | 1411 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| Chess Puzzles | 0% | — |
| LiveBench Reasoning | 26.8% | — |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | 34.7% | — |
| Adversarial NLI | 52.8% | — |
| BIG-Bench Hard | 71.7% | — |
| HellaSwag | 76.7% | — |
| LiveBench | 22.4% | — |
| WinoGrande | 70.8% | — |

## Math

- Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct: 26.6 (#257)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1111 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| LiveBench Math | 15.7% | — |

## Knowledge

- Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct: 28.5 (#246)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1045 | 1421 |
| ARC (AI2) Challenge | 84.9% | — |
| MMLU | 68.8% | — |
| OpenBookQA | 88% | — |
| TriviaQA | 64% | — |

## Multilingual

- Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct: 26.3 (#280)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1021 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1021 | 1447 |
| LMArena French | 1076 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1044 | 1405 |
| LMArena Japanese | 935 | 1354 |
| LMArena Korean | 905 | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | 1022 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1085 | 1419 |

## Instruction Following

- Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct: 47.7 (#303)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1053 | 1385 |
| LiveBench Instruction Following | 39.1% | — |

## Long Context

- Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct: 31.7 (#276)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1044 | 1402 |

## Writing & Preference

- Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct: 27.6 (#300)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1073 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1037 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1018 | 1405 |
| LiveBench Language | 9.2% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 27.9 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 26.6 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct and Step 3.5 Flash share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct has 35 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.