Model comparison
Granite 4.2 3b vs Qwen3.5 Max Preview
Qwen3.5 Max Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 44.7 to 39.0 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 0 categories and Qwen3.5 Max Preview in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Qwen3.5 Max Preview leads 66.1 to 47.9.
- Granite 4.2 3b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen3.5 Max Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 39.0 | 44.7 |
| Released | — | — |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | — | — |
| Max output | — | — |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | — |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | — |
| Results tracked | 11 | 17 |
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Category by category
Coding Qwen3.5 Max Preview leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 39.4 (#146), Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 43.4 (#79)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1363 | 1488 |
Reasoning Qwen3.5 Max Preview leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 25.0 (#136), Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 29.6 (#81)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1308 | 1483 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 3b: —, Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 37.3 (#99)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1473 |
Knowledge Qwen3.5 Max Preview leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 35.6 (#169), Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 41.1 (#104)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1313 | 1489 |
Multilingual Qwen3.5 Max Preview leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 42.4 (#193), Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 56.4 (#21)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1268 | 1465 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1268 | 1534 |
| LMArena Russian | 1249 | 1472 |
| LMArena French | — | 1483 |
| LMArena German | — | 1487 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1497 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1438 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1470 |
Instruction Following Qwen3.5 Max Preview leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 67.2 (#195), Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 77.2 (#28)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1271 | 1467 |
Long Context Qwen3.5 Max Preview leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 39.3 (#179), Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 45.2 (#44)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1293 | 1477 |
Writing & Preference Qwen3.5 Max Preview leads
Granite 4.2 3b: 47.9 (#202), Qwen3.5 Max Preview: 66.1 (#39)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen3.5 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1295 | 1471 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1215 | 1464 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1293 | 1478 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 3b better than Qwen3.5 Max Preview?
Qwen3.5 Max Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 44.7 to 39.0 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 4.2 3b or Qwen3.5 Max Preview better for coding?
Qwen3.5 Max Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 43.4 versus 39.4 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 3b and Qwen3.5 Max Preview share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 3b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.5 Max Preview has 17.