Model comparison
Granite 4.2 3b vs Mistral Small 3
Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.4 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 3b 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 3b leads 47.2 to 32.2.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 3b | Mistral Small 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Mistral AI |
| Noometry Index | 39.4 | 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 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 40.0 (#151), Mistral Small 3: 36.5 (#207)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1361 | 1246 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 45.3% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 50.4% |
Reasoning Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 26.0 (#138), Mistral Small 3: 18.9 (#273)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1306 | 1233 |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 0% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 127.07 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 3b: —, Mistral Small 3: 16.3 (#295)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 6.7% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1240 |
Knowledge Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 36.3 (#171), Mistral Small 3: 25.1 (#263)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1315 | 1202 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 47.3% |
| Confabulations | — | 25.2% |
Multilingual Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 42.1 (#198), Mistral Small 3: 37.3 (#236)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1268 | 1198 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1269 | 1204 |
| LMArena Russian | 1249 | 1216 |
| LMArena French | — | 1203 |
| LMArena German | — | 1211 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1111 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1188 |
Instruction Following Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 67.1 (#200), Mistral Small 3: 63.7 (#229)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1273 | 1214 |
Long Context Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 39.2 (#185), Mistral Small 3: 37.8 (#211)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1291 | 1246 |
Writing & Preference Granite 4.2 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 47.2 (#212), Mistral Small 3: 32.2 (#280)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1293 | 1234 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1205 | 1195 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1290 | 1217 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 707 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 3b better than Mistral Small 3?
Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.4 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 4.2 3b or Mistral Small 3 better for coding?
Granite 4.2 3b scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.0 versus 36.5 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 3b and Mistral Small 3 share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 3b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Mistral Small 3 has 24.