Model comparison

Granite 4.2 8B vs Grok 4.7

Grok 4.7 is the stronger model overall, scoring 53.1 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 28× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.7's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.

Granite 4.2 8B IBM

40.5

Rank #148 Confirmed

Grok 4.7 xAI

53.1

Rank #37 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 8B scores higher in 0 categories and Grok 4.7 in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in knowledge, where Grok 4.7 leads 62.8 to 38.4.
  • Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.25 per million input/output tokens, against $2 / $6 for Grok 4.7.
  • Grok 4.7 accepts more context: 500K tokens versus 131K.
  • Granite 4.2 8B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Granite 4.2 8B and Grok 4.7 specifications
Granite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
ProviderIBMxAI
Noometry Index40.553.1
Released—2026-09-21
WeightsOpenProprietary
Context window131K500K
Max output118K500K
Input $ / M tokens$0.06$2
Output $ / M tokens$0.25$6
Results tracked1139

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Category by category

Coding Grok 4.7 leads

Granite 4.2 8B: 40.5 (#137), Grok 4.7: 58.0 (#18)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
LMArena Coding13801427
FrontierCode—47.6%
CursorBench—46.3%
LMArena WebDev—1639
FrontierSWE—29.5%
SciCode—57.8%

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Granite 4.2 8B: —, Grok 4.7: 36.7 (#37)

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
APEX-Agents—54.6%
GDP.pdf—22.8%
Vending-Bench 2—10,537

Reasoning Grok 4.7 leads

Granite 4.2 8B: 26.6 (#131), Grok 4.7: 49.1 (#40)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
LMArena Hard Prompts13291413
NYT Connections (extended)—76.8%
CritPt—18%
Chess Puzzles—38%
Mystery Game Puzzles—29%
DTBench—96%
LMCA—49.4%
Epoch Capabilities Index—153.53

Math Not comparable

Granite 4.2 8B: —, Grok 4.7: 57.8 (#39)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)—53%
FrontierMath Tier 4—17.1%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025—98.1%
ProofBench—34%
LMArena Math—1407

Knowledge Grok 4.7 leads

Granite 4.2 8B: 38.4 (#145), Grok 4.7: 62.8 (#22)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
LMArena Expert13841422
GPQA Diamond—92.7%
SimpleQA Verified—56%

Multimodal Not comparable

Granite 4.2 8B: —, Grok 4.7: 35.5 (#87)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
LMArena Vision—1228
Blueprint-Bench 2—32.5%
Furniture Assembly—20.8%

Multilingual Grok 4.7 leads

Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#178), Grok 4.7: 50.8 (#116)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
LMArena Non-English13021389
LMArena Chinese13661455
LMArena Russian12851397
LMArena French—1455
LMArena Spanish—1400

Instruction Following Grok 4.7 leads

Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#184), Grok 4.7: 74.1 (#105)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
LMArena Instruction Following13011404

Long Context Grok 4.7 leads

Granite 4.2 8B: 40.3 (#159), Grok 4.7: 43.1 (#104)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
LMArena Longer Query13241413

Writing & Preference Grok 4.7 leads

Granite 4.2 8B: 49.6 (#189), Grok 4.7: 70.0 (#24)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BGrok 4.7
LMArena Text13201399
LMArena Creative Writing12361391
LMArena Multi-Turn13011393
EQ-Bench Creative Writing—2007

Frequently asked questions

Is Granite 4.2 8B better than Grok 4.7?

Grok 4.7 is the stronger model overall, scoring 53.1 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 28× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.7's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Granite 4.2 8B or Grok 4.7?

Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.25 per million output tokens; Grok 4.7 lists at $2 and $6.

Is Granite 4.2 8B or Grok 4.7 better for coding?

Grok 4.7 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 58.0 versus 40.5 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Grok 4.7 does, with 500K tokens against 131K.

How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 8B and Grok 4.7 share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 8B has 11 scored results on Noometry and Grok 4.7 has 39.

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