Llama 3 70B Instruct vs Phi-3 Mini 4k
Llama 3 70B Instruct (2024) and Phi-3 Mini 4k (2024) are compact production models from AI at Meta and Microsoft Research. Llama 3 70B Instruct ships a 8K-token context window, while Phi-3 Mini 4k ships a 4K-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Llama 3 70B Instruct leads by 11.7 pts. On pricing, Phi-3 Mini 4k costs $0.05/1M input tokens versus $0.4/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Phi-3 Mini 4k is ~700% cheaper at $0.05/1M; pay for Llama 3 70B Instruct only for long-context analysis.
Specs
| Released | 2024-04-18 | 2024-04-23 |
| Context window | 8K | 4K |
| Parameters | 70B | 3.8B |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Open Source | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Llama 3 70B Instruct | Phi-3 Mini 4k | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.4/1M tokens | $0.05/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.4/1M tokens | $0.25/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Llama 3 70B Instruct | Phi-3 Mini 4k | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Llama 3 70B Instruct | Phi-3 Mini 4k |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU PRO | 57.4 | 45.7 |
| HumanEval | 72.6 | 59.8 |
| Instruction-Following Evaluation | 77.8 | 45.0 |
| Massive Multitask Language Understanding | 82.0 | 68.2 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, MMLU PRO has Llama 3 70B Instruct at 57.4 and Phi-3 Mini 4k at 45.7, with Llama 3 70B Instruct ahead by 11.7 points; HumanEval has Llama 3 70B Instruct at 72.6 and Phi-3 Mini 4k at 59.8, with Llama 3 70B Instruct ahead by 12.8 points; Instruction-Following Evaluation has Llama 3 70B Instruct at 77.8 and Phi-3 Mini 4k at 45.0, with Llama 3 70B Instruct ahead by 32.8 points. The largest visible gap is 32.8 points on Instruction-Following Evaluation, which matters most when that benchmark mirrors your workload. Treat isolated benchmark wins as directional, because provider routing, prompt style, and tool access can move real application results.
The capability footprint differs most on structured outputs: Llama 3 70B Instruct. Both models share the core language-model surface, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Llama 3 70B Instruct lists $0.4/1M input and $0.4/1M output tokens, while Phi-3 Mini 4k lists $0.05/1M input and $0.25/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Phi-3 Mini 4k lower by about $0.29 per million blended tokens. Availability is 18 providers versus 4, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Llama 3 70B Instruct when long-context analysis, larger context windows, and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Phi-3 Mini 4k when provider fit and lower input-token cost are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Phi-3 Mini 4k?
Llama 3 70B Instruct supports 8K tokens, while Phi-3 Mini 4k supports 4K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Phi-3 Mini 4k?
Phi-3 Mini 4k is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Llama 3 70B Instruct costs $0.4/1M input and $0.4/1M output tokens. Phi-3 Mini 4k costs $0.05/1M input and $0.25/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Llama 3 70B Instruct or Phi-3 Mini 4k open source?
Llama 3 70B Instruct is listed under Open Source. Phi-3 Mini 4k is listed under Open Source. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for structured outputs, Llama 3 70B Instruct or Phi-3 Mini 4k?
Llama 3 70B Instruct has the clearer documented structured outputs signal in this comparison. If structured outputs is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Llama 3 70B Instruct and Phi-3 Mini 4k?
Llama 3 70B Instruct is available on GCP Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry, NVIDIA NIM, and DeepInfra. Phi-3 Mini 4k is available on Microsoft Foundry, NVIDIA NIM, Baseten API, and Replicate API. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
When should I pick Llama 3 70B Instruct over Phi-3 Mini 4k?
Phi-3 Mini 4k is ~700% cheaper at $0.05/1M; pay for Llama 3 70B Instruct only for long-context analysis. If your workload also depends on long-context analysis, start with Llama 3 70B Instruct; if it depends on provider fit, run the same evaluation with Phi-3 Mini 4k.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.