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Head-to-head comparison

Phi 3 medium 4k instruct vs Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B

Phi 3 medium 4k instruct (Microsoft) and Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B (Microsoft) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 23 September 2026

As of 23 September 2026, Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#217 vs #240).

Which should you choose?

Choose Phi 3 medium 4k instruct if…

  • ModelCap publishes no field on which Phi 3 medium 4k instruct leads Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B for this pair.

Choose Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #217 against #240 (13.9 vs 9.2 points).
  • you want the more recently listed model — Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B was listed 23 January 2026, Phi 3 medium 4k instruct 7 May 2024.

Phi 3 medium 4k instruct vs Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Phi 3 medium 4k instruct and Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B
FieldPhi 3 medium 4k instructMicrosoftPhi 4 reasoning vision 15BMicrosoft
ModelCap Index position#240#217
Index score9.213.9
EvidenceMeasuredInherited
Input price / 1M tokensUnlistedUnlisted
Output price / 1M tokensUnlistedUnlisted
Context window— tokens— tokens
Max output tokens
API providers listed00
Weight accessOpen weightsOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText, Image
First listed7 May 202423 January 2026
PublisherMicrosoftMicrosoft

Evidence: 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards · finetune of microsoft/Phi-4-reasoning · finetune (100%). Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Phi 3 medium 4k instruct vs Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B

Public benchmark boards where Phi 3 medium 4k instruct or Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B has a published result
BoardPhi 3 medium 4k instructPhi 4 reasoning vision 15BLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)12311221–1242Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Phi 3 medium 4k instruct vs Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B: common questions

Is Phi 3 medium 4k instruct better than Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B?

Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 23 September 2026: #217 against #240. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is Phi 3 medium 4k instruct cheaper than Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B?

At least one of the two has no listed API price on ModelCap right now, so no price comparison is made.

Which has the bigger context window, Phi 3 medium 4k instruct or Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B?

Both publish a —-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Phi 3 medium 4k instruct or Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Phi 3 medium 4k instruct and Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B open-weight models?

Phi 3 medium 4k instruct: Open weights. Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Phi 3 medium 4k instruct and Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B?

ModelCap currently lists 0 API providers for Phi 3 medium 4k instruct and 0 for Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Phi 3 medium 4k instruct vs Phi 4 reasoning vision 15B comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 23 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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