# Phi-4 Mini vs Qwen3 8B

> Qwen3 8B is the stronger model overall, scoring 33.7 to 30.9 on the Noometry Index. Phi-4 Mini costs 2.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 8B's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/phi-4-mini-vs-qwen3-8b
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 3

## Summary

- They share 3 benchmarks with published results for both. Phi-4 Mini scores higher in 1 category and Qwen3 8B in 2 categories; 3 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Qwen3 8B leads 36.1 to 25.3.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Vectara Hallucination Rate: 23.5% for Phi-4 Mini and 4.8% for Qwen3 8B.
- Phi-4 Mini is cheaper at $0.075 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $0.18 / $0.70 for Qwen3 8B.
- Qwen3 8B accepts more context: 131K tokens versus 128K.

## Snapshot

| | Phi-4 Mini | Qwen3 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Microsoft | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 30.9 | 33.7 |
| Rank | 283 | 238 |
| Context | 128K | 131K |
| Input $/M | $0.075 | $0.18 |
| Output $/M | $0.30 | $0.70 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Phi-4 Mini: 28.1 (#317)
- Qwen3 8B: 34.0 (#248)

| Benchmark | Phi-4 Mini | Qwen3 8B |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 10.8% | 22.6% |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Phi-4 Mini: —
- Qwen3 8B: 30.2 (#78)

| Benchmark | Phi-4 Mini | Qwen3 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 42.6% |

## Reasoning

- Phi-4 Mini: 22.4 (#195)
- Qwen3 8B: 16.6 (#303)

| Benchmark | Phi-4 Mini | Qwen3 8B |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0% | 0% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 5% |
| DTBench | — | 59.7% |
| LMCA | — | 8.8% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 136.17 |

## Math

- Phi-4 Mini: —
- Qwen3 8B: 34.9 (#191)

| Benchmark | Phi-4 Mini | Qwen3 8B |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 56.1% |

## Knowledge

- Phi-4 Mini: 25.3 (#262)
- Qwen3 8B: 36.1 (#173)

| Benchmark | Phi-4 Mini | Qwen3 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 23.5% | 4.8% |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 56.8% |

## Long Context

- Phi-4 Mini: —
- Qwen3 8B: 37.9 (#210)

| Benchmark | Phi-4 Mini | Qwen3 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 62.1% |

## FAQ

### Is Phi-4 Mini better than Qwen3 8B?

Qwen3 8B is the stronger model overall, scoring 33.7 to 30.9 on the Noometry Index. Phi-4 Mini costs 2.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3 8B's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Phi-4 Mini or Qwen3 8B?

Phi-4 Mini is cheaper. It lists at $0.075 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Qwen3 8B lists at $0.18 and $0.70.

### Is Phi-4 Mini or Qwen3 8B better for coding?

Qwen3 8B scores higher on coding benchmarks: 34.0 versus 28.1 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 8B does, with 131K tokens against 128K.

### How many benchmarks do Phi-4 Mini and Qwen3 8B share?

3 benchmarks have published results for both models. Phi-4 Mini has 3 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3 8B has 11.