Model comparison

gpt-oss-20b vs Granite 4.2 30b

Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.4 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.

gpt-oss-20b OpenAI

32.1

Rank #249 Confirmed

Granite 4.2 30b IBM

41.4

Rank #126 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. gpt-oss-20b scores higher in 0 categories and Granite 4.2 30b in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Granite 4.2 30b leads 54.3 to 35.8.

Side by side

gpt-oss-20b and Granite 4.2 30b specifications
gpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
ProviderOpenAIIBM
Noometry Index32.141.4
Released2025-08-05—
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window131K—
Max output16K—
Input $ / M tokens$0.018—
Output $ / M tokens$0.09—
Results tracked3411

Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry

Category by category

Coding Granite 4.2 30b leads

gpt-oss-20b: 37.1 (#185), Granite 4.2 30b: 40.4 (#127)

Coding benchmarks
Benchmarkgpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
LMArena Coding13071394
SciCode34.4%—
WeirdML40.9%—
ALE-Bench566.05—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

gpt-oss-20b: 9.2 (#146), Granite 4.2 30b: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
Benchmarkgpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
Terminal-Bench3.4%—

Reasoning Granite 4.2 30b leads

gpt-oss-20b: 18.8 (#251), Granite 4.2 30b: 26.7 (#114)

Reasoning benchmarks
Benchmarkgpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
LMArena Hard Prompts12741375
Kagi LLM Benchmark53.2%—
CritPt1.4%—
Chess Puzzles4%—
DTBench68%—
LMCA14.5%—
Epoch Capabilities Index137.81—

Math Not comparable

gpt-oss-20b: 37.6 (#93), Granite 4.2 30b: —

Math benchmarks
Benchmarkgpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202565.3%—
Omni-MATH56.5%—
LMArena Math1317—

Knowledge Granite 4.2 30b leads

gpt-oss-20b: 34.6 (#186), Granite 4.2 30b: 38.5 (#134)

Knowledge benchmarks
Benchmarkgpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
LMArena Expert12581405
GPQA Diamond60.8%—
MMLU-Pro74%—
GPQA (HELM)59.4%—

Multilingual Granite 4.2 30b leads

gpt-oss-20b: 42.4 (#192), Granite 4.2 30b: 47.4 (#146)

Multilingual benchmarks
Benchmarkgpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
LMArena Non-English12691340
LMArena Chinese13111415
LMArena Russian12791342
LMArena German1249—
LMArena Japanese1245—
LMArena Korean1239—
LMArena Spanish1267—

Instruction Following Granite 4.2 30b leads

gpt-oss-20b: 62.0 (#235), Granite 4.2 30b: 71.3 (#150)

Instruction Following benchmarks
Benchmarkgpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
LMArena Instruction Following12361346
IFEval73.2%—

Long Context Granite 4.2 30b leads

gpt-oss-20b: 37.9 (#203), Granite 4.2 30b: 41.4 (#135)

Long Context benchmarks
Benchmarkgpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
LMArena Longer Query12511359

Writing & Preference Granite 4.2 30b leads

gpt-oss-20b: 35.8 (#260), Granite 4.2 30b: 54.3 (#147)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
Benchmarkgpt-oss-20bGranite 4.2 30b
LMArena Text12881363
LMArena Creative Writing12011294
LMArena Multi-Turn12681340
EQ-Bench Creative Writing666—
WildBench73.7%—

Frequently asked questions

Is gpt-oss-20b better than Granite 4.2 30b?

Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.4 to 32.1 on the Noometry Index.

Is gpt-oss-20b or Granite 4.2 30b better for coding?

Granite 4.2 30b scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.4 versus 37.1 in the Noometry coding category.

How many benchmarks do gpt-oss-20b and Granite 4.2 30b share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. gpt-oss-20b has 34 scored results on Noometry and Granite 4.2 30b has 11.

Related comparisons

Go deeper