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Model comparison

LFM2.5-8B-A1B vs o3-mini

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 7 shared benchmark results across 4 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

41.25/100
Margin
6.0pts
winning →
OpenAI
47.3/100
0 category wins1 category wins

BenchAlign evidence: LFM2.5-8B-A1B estimated; o3-mini supported. Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. LFM2.5-8B-A1B and o3-mini share 7 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 11 results are unique to LFM2.5-8B-A1B; 4 to o3-mini.

Updated July 16, 2026
Shared results
7
LFM2.5-8B-A1B only
11
o3-mini only
4
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick o3-mini if you want the stronger benchmark profile. LFM2.5-8B-A1B only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 7 shared benchmark results across 4 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

o3-mini is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 52 to 37. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

o3-mini's sharpest advantage is in instruction following, where it averages 93.9 against 68.8. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is IFEval, 91.8% to 93.9%.

o3-mini is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.10 input / $4.40 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.00 input / $0.00 output per 1M tokens for LFM2.5-8B-A1B. That is roughly Infinityx on output cost alone. o3-mini gives you the larger context window at 200K, compared with 128K for LFM2.5-8B-A1B.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for LFM2.5-8B-A1B and o3-mini
CategoryLFM2.5-8B-A1BΔo3-mini
Inst. FollowingLFM2.5-8B-A1B68.8Margin 25.1o3-mini93.9
CodingLFM2.5-8B-A1BNot measuredMarginNo overlapo3-mini49.3
KnowledgeLFM2.5-8B-A1BNot measuredMarginNo overlapo3-mini77.2
MathLFM2.5-8B-A1B50.0MarginNo overlapo3-miniNot measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · LFM2.5-8B-A1BB · o3-mini
  1. IFEval

    Inst. Following
    Source ↗
    A 91.8%B 93.9%
    Winner: o3-miniΔ 2.1
    IFEval: LFM2.5-8B-A1B scored 91.8%; o3-mini scored 93.9%. o3-mini wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricLFM2.5-8B-A1Bo3-miniComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensLFM2.5-8B-A1B$0 input / $0 outputo3-mini$1.1 input / $4.4 outputLFM2.5-8B-A1B has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondLFM2.5-8B-A1BNot availableo3-mini160 tok/sA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenLFM2.5-8B-A1BNot availableo3-mini7.12 sA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensLFM2.5-8B-A1B128Ko3-mini200Ko3-mini lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkLFM2.5-8B-A1Bo3-miniResult
BFCL v4Source 49.7%Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 16.1%28.7%o3-mini leads
Coding
BenchmarkLFM2.5-8B-A1Bo3-miniResult
Terminal-Bench HardSource 4.5%6.8%o3-mini leads
AA-SciCodeSource 7.8%39.9%o3-mini leads
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 49.3%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkLFM2.5-8B-A1Bo3-miniResult
AA-LCRSource 0.0%Not comparable
CritPtSource 0.0%Not comparable
Knowledge
BenchmarkLFM2.5-8B-A1Bo3-miniResult
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 51.3%74.8%o3-mini leads
AA-HLESource 6.9%8.7%o3-mini leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource -33.3%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 9.4%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 47.0%Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 8.3%19.0%o3-mini leads
MMLUSource 86.9%Not comparable
GPQASource 77.2%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkLFM2.5-8B-A1Bo3-miniResult
MATH-500Source 88.8%Not comparable
AIME 2025Source 42.5%Not comparable
AIME26Source 50.0%Not comparable
AIME 2024Source 87.3%Not comparable
Inst. Followingo3-mini wins
BenchmarkLFM2.5-8B-A1Bo3-miniResult
IFEvalSource 91.8%93.9%o3-mini leads
IFBenchSource 56.5%Not comparable
AA-IFBenchSource 55.6%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, LFM2.5-8B-A1B or o3-mini?

o3-mini is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 52 to 37. The biggest single separator in this matchup is IFEval, where the scores are 91.8% and 93.9%.

Which is better for instruction following, LFM2.5-8B-A1B or o3-mini?

o3-mini has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 93.9 versus 68.8. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: July 16, 2026

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