# Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 29.3 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/phi-3-small-8k-instruct-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 17

## Summary

- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Phi 3 Small 8k 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 31.1.

## Snapshot

| | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Microsoft | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 29.3 | 42.3 |
| Rank | 314 | 116 |
| Context | — | 256K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | — | $0.30 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 27.9 (#318)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1101 | 1436 |
| LiveBench Coding | 20.3% | — |

## Reasoning

- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 14.8 (#323)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1100 | 1411 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| LiveBench Reasoning | 15.9% | — |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | 30.3% | — |
| Adversarial NLI | 58.1% | — |
| BIG-Bench Hard | 79.1% | — |
| HellaSwag | 77% | — |
| LiveBench | 24% | — |
| WinoGrande | 81.5% | — |

## Math

- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 27.6 (#248)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1151 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| LiveBench Math | 17.6% | — |

## Knowledge

- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 29.1 (#240)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1067 | 1421 |
| ARC (AI2) Challenge | 90.7% | — |
| MMLU | 75.7% | — |
| OpenBookQA | 88% | — |
| TriviaQA | 58.1% | — |

## Multilingual

- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 28.5 (#272)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1058 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1061 | 1447 |
| LMArena French | 1135 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1080 | 1405 |
| LMArena Japanese | 966 | 1354 |
| LMArena Korean | 894 | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | 1111 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1111 | 1419 |

## Instruction Following

- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 51.9 (#292)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1087 | 1385 |
| LiveBench Instruction Following | 47.2% | — |

## Long Context

- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 33.0 (#267)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1088 | 1402 |

## Writing & Preference

- Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct: 31.1 (#284)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)

| Benchmark | Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1110 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1083 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1068 | 1405 |
| LiveBench Language | 12.9% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 29.3 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 27.9 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct and Step 3.5 Flash share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Phi 3 Small 8k Instruct has 32 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.