Model comparison
Granite 4.2 30b vs Mistral Small 3
Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.8 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
Mistral AISummary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 30b scores higher in 7 categories and Mistral Small 3 in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Granite 4.2 30b leads 53.8 to 32.2.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 30b | Mistral Small 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Mistral AI |
| Noometry Index | 41.8 | 31.2 |
| Released | — | 2025-01-30 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | — | 33K |
| Max output | — | 16K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $0.08 |
| Results tracked | 11 | 24 |
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Category by category
Coding Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 41.0 (#126), Mistral Small 3: 36.5 (#207)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1396 | 1246 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 45.3% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 50.4% |
Reasoning Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 27.8 (#112), Mistral Small 3: 18.9 (#273)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1374 | 1233 |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 0% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 127.07 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 30b: —, Mistral Small 3: 16.3 (#295)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 6.7% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1240 |
Knowledge Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 39.1 (#138), Mistral Small 3: 25.1 (#263)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1406 | 1202 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 47.3% |
| Confabulations | — | 25.2% |
Multilingual Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 47.3 (#151), Mistral Small 3: 37.3 (#236)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1340 | 1198 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1414 | 1204 |
| LMArena Russian | 1343 | 1216 |
| LMArena French | — | 1203 |
| LMArena German | — | 1211 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1111 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1188 |
Instruction Following Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 71.2 (#155), Mistral Small 3: 63.7 (#229)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1347 | 1214 |
Long Context Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 41.4 (#140), Mistral Small 3: 37.8 (#211)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1359 | 1246 |
Writing & Preference Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 53.8 (#156), Mistral Small 3: 32.2 (#280)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1361 | 1234 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1288 | 1195 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1339 | 1217 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 707 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 30b better than Mistral Small 3?
Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.8 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 4.2 30b or Mistral Small 3 better for coding?
Granite 4.2 30b scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.0 versus 36.5 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 30b and Mistral Small 3 share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 30b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Mistral Small 3 has 24.