Model comparison
Granite 4.2 8B vs Kimi K2.6
Kimi K2.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.7 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 16× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K2.6's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 8B scores higher in 0 categories and Kimi K2.6 in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Kimi K2.6 leads 68.5 to 49.6.
- Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.25 per million input/output tokens, against $0.95 / $4 for Kimi K2.6.
- Kimi K2.6 accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 131K.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Moonshot AI |
| Noometry Index | 40.5 | 47.7 |
| Released | — | 2026-04-20 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 131K | 262K |
| Max output | 118K | 262K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.06 | $0.95 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.25 | $4 |
| Results tracked | 11 | 51 |
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Category by category
Coding Kimi K2.6 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 40.5 (#137), Kimi K2.6: 50.7 (#43)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1380 | 1488 |
| SWE-bench Verified | — | 76.7% |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1509 |
| SciCode | — | 53.5% |
| WeirdML | — | 55.9% |
| ALE-Bench | — | 1,093 |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Granite 4.2 8B: —, Kimi K2.6: 21.9 (#137)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| OSWorld 2.0 | — | 4.6% |
| ExploitBench | — | 18.4% |
| GBAEval | — | 0.9% |
| GDP.pdf | — | 12% |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 6,205 |
Reasoning Kimi K2.6 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 26.6 (#131), Kimi K2.6: 40.5 (#55)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1329 | 1470 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 87.2% |
| CritPt | — | 8% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 26% |
| EBR-Bench | — | 2.4% |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 18% |
| DTBench | — | 90.9% |
| LMCA | — | 37.3% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 151.05 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 8B: —, Kimi K2.6: 57.0 (#41)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | — | 57.2% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | — | 25.6% |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 72.9% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 96.1% |
| ProofBench | — | 16% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1475 |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 39% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1) | — | 14.6% |
Knowledge Kimi K2.6 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 38.4 (#145), Kimi K2.6: 54.0 (#54)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1384 | 1491 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 90.8% |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 34.9% |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 10.8% |
Multimodal Not comparable
Granite 4.2 8B: —, Kimi K2.6: 31.6 (#103)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1283 |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | — | 3.9% |
| Furniture Assembly | — | 21.7% |
| LMArena Document | — | 1451 |
Multilingual Kimi K2.6 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#178), Kimi K2.6: 54.9 (#37)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1302 | 1446 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1366 | 1521 |
| LMArena Russian | 1285 | 1446 |
| LMArena French | — | 1471 |
| LMArena German | — | 1450 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1443 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1427 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1464 |
Instruction Following Kimi K2.6 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#184), Kimi K2.6: 76.3 (#43)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1301 | 1451 |
Long Context Kimi K2.6 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 40.3 (#159), Kimi K2.6: 44.9 (#52)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1324 | 1468 |
Writing & Preference Kimi K2.6 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 49.6 (#189), Kimi K2.6: 68.5 (#26)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1320 | 1455 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1236 | 1434 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1301 | 1453 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 1725 |
| EQ-Bench 4 | — | 1202 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 8B better than Kimi K2.6?
Kimi K2.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.7 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 16× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K2.6's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Granite 4.2 8B or Kimi K2.6?
Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.25 per million output tokens; Kimi K2.6 lists at $0.95 and $4.
Is Granite 4.2 8B or Kimi K2.6 better for coding?
Kimi K2.6 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.7 versus 40.5 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Kimi K2.6 does, with 262K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 8B and Kimi K2.6 share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 8B has 11 scored results on Noometry and Kimi K2.6 has 51.