The honest, $0-markup cost to run Phi 3 mini 4k instruct (microsoft, 3.8B) and phi 2 (microsoft, 2.8B), side by side — free on your own machine, on your own rented GPU at the vendor's price, or via your own API key.
| Phi 3 mini 4k instruct | phi 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Parameters | 3.8B | 2.8B |
| Context window | ✓ 4.1K | 2K |
| License | Commercial OK | Commercial OK |
| VRAM to run | ~5.0 GB (Q4_K_M) | ✓ ~4.0 GB (Q4_K_M) |
| Rent a GPU | $0.06/hr | $0.06/hr |
| Your API key | $0.13/1M (est.) | ✓ $0.12/1M (est.) |
VRAM, size, context and license are facts from the catalog and the shared cost engine; API prices are real where we have them (labeled "est." otherwise). We don't rank model quality or quote benchmarks here.
Full cost breakdown: Phi 3 mini 4k instruct →
Full cost breakdown: phi 2 →
Open the free Spanvero advisor → to compare them live for your exact workload and hardware.
Spanvero · All comparisons · Prices as of 2026-07-06. $0 markup, your own accounts, we never resell compute. © 2026 Cynosure LLC.
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