Model comparison
GPT-5.5 Instant vs Granite 4.2 8B
GPT-5.5 Instant is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.7 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. GPT-5.5 Instant scores higher in 6 categories and Granite 4.2 8B in 1 category; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where GPT-5.5 Instant leads 61.8 to 49.6.
- Granite 4.2 8B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | IBM |
| Noometry Index | 42.7 | 40.5 |
| Released | 2026-05-05 | — |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | — | 131K |
| Max output | — | 118K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.06 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $0.25 |
| Results tracked | 27 | 11 |
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Category by category
Coding GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 44.3 (#74), Granite 4.2 8B: 40.5 (#137)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1433 | 1380 |
| SciCode | 48.6% | — |
Reasoning Granite 4.2 8B leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 24.9 (#155), Granite 4.2 8B: 26.6 (#131)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1426 | 1329 |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 12% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 142.52 | — |
Math Not comparable
GPT-5.5 Instant: 26.5 (#259), Granite 4.2 8B: —
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 26.3% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 2.4% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 68.1% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1420 | — |
Knowledge GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 48.9 (#74), Granite 4.2 8B: 38.4 (#145)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1409 | 1384 |
| GPQA Diamond | 82.5% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
GPT-5.5 Instant: 40.0 (#52), Granite 4.2 8B: —
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1250 | — |
| LMArena Document | 1403 | — |
Multilingual GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 52.8 (#80), Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#178)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1417 | 1302 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1456 | 1366 |
| LMArena Russian | 1431 | 1285 |
| LMArena French | 1428 | — |
| LMArena German | 1411 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1408 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1392 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1429 | — |
Instruction Following GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 74.2 (#100), Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#184)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1406 | 1301 |
Long Context GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 43.4 (#96), Granite 4.2 8B: 40.3 (#159)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1422 | 1324 |
Writing & Preference GPT-5.5 Instant leads
GPT-5.5 Instant: 61.8 (#85), Granite 4.2 8B: 49.6 (#189)
| Benchmark | GPT-5.5 Instant | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1419 | 1320 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1419 | 1236 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1433 | 1301 |
Frequently asked questions
Is GPT-5.5 Instant better than Granite 4.2 8B?
GPT-5.5 Instant is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.7 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index.
Is GPT-5.5 Instant or Granite 4.2 8B better for coding?
GPT-5.5 Instant scores higher on coding benchmarks: 44.3 versus 40.5 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do GPT-5.5 Instant and Granite 4.2 8B share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. GPT-5.5 Instant has 27 scored results on Noometry and Granite 4.2 8B has 11.