Model comparison
Granite 4.2 30b vs Nova 2 Lite
Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.8 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 30b scores higher in 5 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 2 categories; one gap is clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Nova 2 Lite leads 43.0 to 39.1.
- Granite 4.2 30b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 41.8 | 39.7 |
| Released | — | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | — | 1M |
| Max output | — | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 11 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 41.0 (#126), Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1396 | 1385 |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Granite 4.2 30b: —, Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
Reasoning Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 27.8 (#112), Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1374 | 1364 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 30b: —, Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1359 |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 39.1 (#138), Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1406 | 1358 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
Multilingual Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 47.3 (#151), Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1340 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1414 | 1364 |
| LMArena Russian | 1343 | 1343 |
| LMArena French | — | 1381 |
| LMArena German | — | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1271 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1284 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1373 |
Instruction Following Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 71.2 (#155), Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1347 | 1335 |
Long Context Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 41.4 (#140), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1359 | 1335 |
Writing & Preference Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 53.8 (#156), Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1361 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1288 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1339 | 1338 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 30b better than Nova 2 Lite?
Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.8 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 4.2 30b or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
They score almost the same on coding (41.0 vs 40.7); test both on your own repository before choosing.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 30b and Nova 2 Lite share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 30b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.