Phi-4 vs DBRX Instruct

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across knowledge, coding, math, and reasoning.

Phi-4 is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 39 to 32. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Phi-4's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 82.6 against 70.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is HumanEval, 82.6 to 70.1. DBRX Instruct does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.

DBRX Instruct gives you the larger context window at 32K, compared with 16K for Phi-4.

Quick Verdict

Pick Phi-4 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. DBRX Instruct only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 32K context window.

Knowledge

DBRX Instruct

Phi-4

70.5

DBRX Instruct

73.7

84.8
MMLU
73.7
56.1
GPQA
-

Coding

Phi-4

Phi-4

82.6

DBRX Instruct

70.1

82.6
HumanEval
70.1

Mathematics

Tie

Reasoning

Tie

Instruction Following

Tie

Multilingual

Phi-4
80.6
MGSM
-

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Phi-4 or DBRX Instruct?

Phi-4 is ahead overall, 39 to 32. The biggest single separator in this matchup is HumanEval, where the scores are 82.6 and 70.1.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Phi-4 or DBRX Instruct?

DBRX Instruct has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 73.7 versus 70.5. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, Phi-4 or DBRX Instruct?

Phi-4 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 82.6 versus 70.1. Inside this category, HumanEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 9, 2026

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