Model comparison
Granite 4.2 3b vs Llama 3.2 3B
Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 28.4 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
MetaSummary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 3b scores higher in 7 categories and Llama 3.2 3B in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Granite 4.2 3b leads 47.9 to 24.9.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Meta |
| Noometry Index | 39.0 | 28.4 |
| Released | — | 2024-09-24 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | — | 131K |
| Max output | — | 118K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $0.33 |
| Results tracked | 11 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 39.4 (#146), Llama 3.2 3B: 27.1 (#314)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1363 | 1098 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 23.4% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 28.3% |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Granite 4.2 3b: —, Llama 3.2 3B: 19.9 (#135)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 21.9% |
| BALROG | — | 10.1% |
Reasoning Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 25.0 (#136), Llama 3.2 3B: 20.1 (#225)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1308 | 1095 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 3b: —, Llama 3.2 3B: 29.9 (#213)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1126 |
Knowledge Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 35.6 (#169), Llama 3.2 3B: 29.1 (#232)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1313 | 1090 |
Multilingual Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 42.4 (#193), Llama 3.2 3B: 26.4 (#276)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1268 | 1019 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1268 | 1017 |
| LMArena Russian | 1249 | 949 |
| LMArena German | — | 1056 |
Instruction Following Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 67.2 (#195), Llama 3.2 3B: 56.3 (#270)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1271 | 1089 |
Long Context Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 39.3 (#179), Llama 3.2 3B: 33.4 (#256)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1293 | 1101 |
Writing & Preference Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 47.9 (#202), Llama 3.2 3B: 24.9 (#302)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1295 | 1110 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1215 | 1094 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1293 | 1105 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 595 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 3b better than Llama 3.2 3B?
Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 28.4 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 4.2 3b or Llama 3.2 3B better for coding?
Granite 4.2 3b scores higher on coding benchmarks: 39.4 versus 27.1 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 3b and Llama 3.2 3B share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 3b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Llama 3.2 3B has 18.