Phi-4 Mini Instruct vs Kimi K3
At a Glance
| Compare |  Phi-4 Mini InstructMicrosoft |  Kimi K3Moonshot AI |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence, Cost, and Efficiency | ||
| IntelligenceHigher is better · MM Intelligence v2.5 | UnrankedNot in the 46-model eligible cohort | #17 of 4670.3 score · 3/3 sources · complete |
| CostLower is better · Published-token output estimate | UnrankedNot in the 44-model eligible cohort | #30 of 44$0.194 per LiveBench case |
| EfficiencyHigher is better · MM Efficiency v1.5 | UnrankedNot in the 38-model eligible cohort | #21 of 3852.5 score · 3/3 sources · complete |
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $2.85Deepinfra ↗ · Sep 21, 2026 |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $14.25Deepinfra ↗ · Sep 21, 2026 |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 131K | 1,049K |
| Model facts checked | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → |
Token prices are the lowest available sourced USD rates; input and output may use different providers. Cost ranking estimates output spend on LiveBench, not a full request bill. Ranking methodology →
Available Benchmarks
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | Phi-4-mini-instruct | Kimi-K3 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Microsoft | Moonshot AI |
| Family | Phi 4 Mini Instruct | Kimi K3 |
| Model | Phi-4-mini-instruct | Kimi-K3 |
| Version | Phi-4-mini-instruct | Kimi-K3 |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2025-02-26 | 2026-07-16 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 131K | 1,049K |
| Total parameters | 3.8B | 2.8T |
| Active parameters | Unknown | 104B |
| License | mit | other |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Provider access | Hugging Face (Standard) | Deepinfra (Standard), Fireworks Ai (Standard), Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard), Together Ai (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation | chat, generation, reasoning |
Phi-4 Mini Instruct Capabilities
Kimi K3 Capabilities
Related Comparisons
All text comparisons →| A | Pair | B | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | vs | Kimi-K2.6Moonshot AI | cross-developer peerstext |
Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | vs |  GPT-6 AstraOpenAI | cross-developer peerstext |
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic | vs | Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | cross-developer peerstext |
 Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle DeepMind | vs | Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | cross-developer peerstext |
 DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek | vs | Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | cross-developer peerstext |
Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | vs | Grok 4.6xAI | cross-developer peerstext |
Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | vs |  Qwen3.8-MaxQwen | cross-developer peerstext |
 MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | cross-developer peerstext |
Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | vs |  GLM-5.3Z.ai | cross-developer peerstext |
Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | vs |  Hy4 previewTencent | cross-developer peerstext |
Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed | vs | Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | cross-developer peerstext |
Phi-4-mini-instructMicrosoft | vs |  Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | cross-developer peerstext |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
Phi-4 Mini Instruct vs Kimi K3 FAQs
Is Phi-4 Mini Instruct or Kimi K3 better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both Phi-4 Mini Instruct and Kimi K3, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, Phi-4 Mini Instruct or Kimi K3?+
Only Kimi K3 has a directly sourced input price: $2.85 per million tokens. Only Kimi K3 has a directly sourced output price: $14.25 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, Phi-4 Mini Instruct or Kimi K3?+
Kimi K3 has the larger sourced context window. Phi-4 Mini Instruct supports 131K and Kimi K3 supports 1,049K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, Phi-4 Mini Instruct or Kimi K3?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: At least two independently verified, protocol-matched benchmarks are required for an overall winner.
Can Phi-4 Mini Instruct or Kimi K3 be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: supported. Phi-4 Mini Instruct is open weight; Kimi K3 is open weight.
Can Phi-4 Mini Instruct and Kimi K3 understand images?+
Phi-4 Mini Instruct is not documented with image input; Kimi K3 is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, Phi-4 Mini Instruct or Kimi K3?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. Phi-4 Mini Instruct is — and Kimi K3 is —.
Do Phi-4 Mini Instruct and Kimi K3 support reasoning and tool use?+
Phi-4 Mini Instruct: none of these features are definitively sourced. Kimi K3: reasoning and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, Phi-4 Mini Instruct or Kimi K3?+
Phi-4 Mini Instruct has 1 sourced provider route; Kimi K3 has 5, so Kimi K3 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, Phi-4 Mini Instruct or Kimi K3?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.