Model comparison

GLM-5.1 vs Granite 4.2 8B

GLM-5.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.8 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 20× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.

GLM-5.1 Z.ai (Zhipu)

47.8

Rank #59 Confirmed

Granite 4.2 8B IBM

40.5

Rank #148 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.1 scores higher in 7 categories and Granite 4.2 8B in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in writing & preference, where GLM-5.1 leads 66.9 to 49.6.
  • Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.25 per million input/output tokens, against $1.40 / $4.40 for GLM-5.1.
  • GLM-5.1 accepts more context: 200K tokens versus 131K.

Side by side

GLM-5.1 and Granite 4.2 8B specifications
GLM-5.1Granite 4.2 8B
ProviderZ.ai (Zhipu)IBM
Noometry Index47.840.5
Released2026-04-07—
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window200K131K
Max output131K118K
Input $ / M tokens$1.40$0.06
Output $ / M tokens$4.40$0.25
Results tracked4111

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Category by category

Coding GLM-5.1 leads

GLM-5.1: 48.7 (#55), Granite 4.2 8B: 40.5 (#137)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.1Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Coding14851380
SWE-bench Verified74.2%—
LMArena WebDev1508—
SciCode43.8%—
WeirdML57.1%—
ALE-Bench887.1—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

GLM-5.1: 24.9 (#113), Granite 4.2 8B: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.1Granite 4.2 8B
APEX-Agents40.9%—
ExploitBench18.1%—
GBAEval0%—
Vending-Bench 25,634—

Reasoning GLM-5.1 leads

GLM-5.1: 39.1 (#60), Granite 4.2 8B: 26.6 (#131)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.1Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Hard Prompts14721329
SimpleBench55.1%—
NYT Connections (extended)77.7%—
CritPt4.6%—
Chess Puzzles19%—
Thematic Generalization69.8%—
Epoch Capabilities Index149.84—

Math Not comparable

GLM-5.1: 49.7 (#60), Granite 4.2 8B: —

Knowledge GLM-5.1 leads

GLM-5.1: 54.9 (#50), Granite 4.2 8B: 38.4 (#145)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.1Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Expert14761384
GPQA Diamond89.9%—
SimpleQA Verified34%—

Multilingual GLM-5.1 leads

GLM-5.1: 55.0 (#36), Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#178)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.1Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Non-English14471302
LMArena Chinese15151366
LMArena Russian14541285
LMArena French1474—
LMArena German1465—
LMArena Japanese1434—
LMArena Korean1418—
LMArena Spanish1469—

Instruction Following GLM-5.1 leads

GLM-5.1: 76.3 (#42), Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#184)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.1Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Instruction Following14511301

Long Context GLM-5.1 leads

GLM-5.1: 44.9 (#53), Granite 4.2 8B: 40.3 (#159)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.1Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Longer Query14661324

Writing & Preference GLM-5.1 leads

GLM-5.1: 66.9 (#31), Granite 4.2 8B: 49.6 (#189)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.1Granite 4.2 8B
LMArena Text14611320
LMArena Creative Writing14531236
LMArena Multi-Turn14721301
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1592—

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM-5.1 better than Granite 4.2 8B?

GLM-5.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.8 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 20× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.1 or Granite 4.2 8B?

Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.25 per million output tokens; GLM-5.1 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.

Is GLM-5.1 or Granite 4.2 8B better for coding?

GLM-5.1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 48.7 versus 40.5 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

GLM-5.1 does, with 200K tokens against 131K.

How many benchmarks do GLM-5.1 and Granite 4.2 8B share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.1 has 41 scored results on Noometry and Granite 4.2 8B has 11.

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