Model comparison
Granite 4.2 30b vs Qwen Max
Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.8 to 34.7 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 30b scores higher in 7 categories and Qwen Max in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in coding, where Granite 4.2 30b leads 41.0 to 30.7.
- Granite 4.2 30b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 30b | Qwen Max | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 41.8 | 34.7 |
| Released | — | 2024-04-03 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | — | 33K |
| Max output | — | 8K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $1.60 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $6.40 |
| Results tracked | 11 | 23 |
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Category by category
Coding Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 41.0 (#126), Qwen Max: 30.7 (#292)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1396 | 1288 |
| Aider Polyglot | — | 21.8% |
Reasoning Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 27.8 (#112), Qwen Max: 25.1 (#151)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1374 | 1269 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 30b: —, Qwen Max: 22.3 (#276)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 16.1% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1275 |
| MATH Level 5 | — | 67.2% |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 1% |
Knowledge Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 39.1 (#138), Qwen Max: 30.3 (#228)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1406 | 1248 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 56.1% |
Multilingual Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 47.3 (#151), Qwen Max: 41.8 (#202)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1340 | 1263 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1414 | 1254 |
| LMArena Russian | 1343 | 1274 |
| LMArena French | — | 1330 |
| LMArena German | — | 1254 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1205 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1142 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1290 |
Instruction Following Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 71.2 (#155), Qwen Max: 66.5 (#208)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1347 | 1262 |
Long Context Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 41.4 (#140), Qwen Max: 39.4 (#180)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1359 | 1288 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 66.7% |
Writing & Preference Granite 4.2 30b leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 53.8 (#156), Qwen Max: 47.8 (#205)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1361 | 1282 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1288 | 1248 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1339 | 1277 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 30b better than Qwen Max?
Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.8 to 34.7 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 4.2 30b or Qwen Max better for coding?
Granite 4.2 30b scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.0 versus 30.7 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 30b and Qwen Max share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 30b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Qwen Max has 23.