Model comparison
Granite 4.2 3b vs Qwen Max
Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.4 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 3b scores higher in 5 categories and Qwen Max in 2 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in coding, where Granite 4.2 3b leads 40.0 to 30.7.
- Granite 4.2 3b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 39.4 | 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 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 40.0 (#151), Qwen Max: 30.7 (#292)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1361 | 1288 |
| Aider Polyglot | — | 21.8% |
Reasoning Too close to call
Granite 4.2 3b: 26.0 (#138), Qwen Max: 25.1 (#151)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1306 | 1269 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 3b: —, Qwen Max: 22.3 (#276)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | 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 3b leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 36.3 (#171), Qwen Max: 30.3 (#228)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1315 | 1248 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 56.1% |
Multilingual Too close to call
Granite 4.2 3b: 42.1 (#198), Qwen Max: 41.8 (#202)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1268 | 1263 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1269 | 1254 |
| LMArena Russian | 1249 | 1274 |
| LMArena French | — | 1330 |
| LMArena German | — | 1254 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1205 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1142 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1290 |
Instruction Following Too close to call
Granite 4.2 3b: 67.1 (#200), Qwen Max: 66.5 (#208)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1273 | 1262 |
Long Context Too close to call
Granite 4.2 3b: 39.2 (#185), Qwen Max: 39.4 (#180)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1291 | 1288 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 66.7% |
Writing & Preference Too close to call
Granite 4.2 3b: 47.2 (#212), Qwen Max: 47.8 (#205)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1293 | 1282 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1205 | 1248 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1290 | 1277 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 3b better than Qwen Max?
Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.4 to 34.7 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 4.2 3b or Qwen Max better for coding?
Granite 4.2 3b scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.0 versus 30.7 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 3b and Qwen Max share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 3b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Qwen Max has 23.