Model comparison
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Granite 4.2 3b
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.5 to 39.4 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
GoogleSummary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite scores higher in 7 categories and Granite 4.2 3b in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads 64.2 to 47.2.
- Granite 4.2 3b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | |
| Noometry Index | 41.5 | 39.4 |
| Released | 2026-07-21 | — |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1.05M | — |
| Max output | 66K | — |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.30 | — |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.50 | — |
| Results tracked | 39 | 11 |
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Category by category
Coding Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 42.4 (#104), Granite 4.2 3b: 40.0 (#151)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1453 | 1361 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1440 | — |
| SciCode | 41.3% | — |
| WeirdML | 39% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 765.27 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 25.7 (#107), Granite 4.2 3b: —
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 29.3% | — |
| GDP.pdf | 10% | — |
Reasoning Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 27.8 (#114), Granite 4.2 3b: 26.0 (#138)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1441 | 1306 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 10.3% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 60.4% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 53.5% | — |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 22% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 19% | — |
| DTBench | 83.5% | — |
| LMCA | 37.6% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.13 | — |
Math Not comparable
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 25.9 (#264), Granite 4.2 3b: —
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 26% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 0% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 71.1% | — |
| ProofBench | 13% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1433 | — |
Knowledge Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 50.1 (#72), Granite 4.2 3b: 36.3 (#171)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1435 | 1315 |
| GPQA Diamond | 83.3% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 41.1 (#40), Granite 4.2 3b: —
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1268 | — |
Multilingual Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 53.5 (#63), Granite 4.2 3b: 42.1 (#198)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1427 | 1268 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1469 | 1269 |
| LMArena Russian | 1443 | 1249 |
| LMArena French | 1451 | — |
| LMArena German | 1454 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1427 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1407 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1442 | — |
Instruction Following Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 74.8 (#85), Granite 4.2 3b: 67.1 (#200)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1420 | 1273 |
Long Context Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 43.9 (#84), Granite 4.2 3b: 39.2 (#185)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1435 | 1291 |
Writing & Preference Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: 64.2 (#57), Granite 4.2 3b: 47.2 (#212)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Granite 4.2 3b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1435 | 1293 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1420 | 1205 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1445 | 1290 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1559 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than Granite 4.2 3b?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.5 to 39.4 on the Noometry Index.
Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Granite 4.2 3b better for coding?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 40.0 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Granite 4.2 3b share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has 39 scored results on Noometry and Granite 4.2 3b has 11.