Model comparison
Granite 4.2 8B vs Muse Spark 1.1
Muse Spark 1.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 49.9 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 19× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Muse Spark 1.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
MetaSummary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 8B scores higher in 0 categories and Muse Spark 1.1 in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Muse Spark 1.1 leads 73.6 to 49.8.
- Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.25 per million input/output tokens, against $1.25 / $4.25 for Muse Spark 1.1.
- Muse Spark 1.1 accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 131K.
- Granite 4.2 8B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Meta |
| Noometry Index | 40.0 | 49.9 |
| Released | — | 2026-04-08 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 131K | 1.05M |
| Max output | 118K | 131K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.06 | $1.25 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.25 | $4.25 |
| Results tracked | 11 | 36 |
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Category by category
Coding Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 39.9 (#138), Muse Spark 1.1: 50.8 (#38)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1379 | 1497 |
| DeepSWE | — | 53.3% |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1542 |
| SciCode | — | 58.8% |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Granite 4.2 8B: —, Muse Spark 1.1: 33.9 (#45)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| τ²-bench Banking | — | 40.5% |
| GBAEval | — | 7.9% |
| GDP.pdf | — | 15% |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 6,520 |
Reasoning Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 25.5 (#130), Muse Spark 1.1: 45.9 (#41)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1327 | 1486 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 84.9% |
| CritPt | — | 15.1% |
| DTBench | — | 94.4% |
| LMCA | — | 49.9% |
| Surface Evolver Bench | — | 52.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 154.32 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 8B: —, Muse Spark 1.1: 44.0 (#67)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| ProofBench | — | 39% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1477 |
Knowledge Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 37.7 (#144), Muse Spark 1.1: 52.8 (#55)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1380 | 1480 |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 57.8% |
Multimodal Not comparable
Granite 4.2 8B: —, Muse Spark 1.1: 41.9 (#28)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1292 |
| LMArena Document | — | 1465 |
Multilingual Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#173), Muse Spark 1.1: 56.8 (#16)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1299 | 1471 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1361 | 1518 |
| LMArena Russian | 1283 | 1482 |
| LMArena French | — | 1494 |
| LMArena German | — | 1466 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1445 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1459 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1471 |
Instruction Following Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#183), Muse Spark 1.1: 76.8 (#36)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1298 | 1457 |
Long Context Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 40.2 (#154), Muse Spark 1.1: 44.8 (#55)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1323 | 1463 |
Writing & Preference Muse Spark 1.1 leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 49.8 (#183), Muse Spark 1.1: 73.6 (#11)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1319 | 1479 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1238 | 1440 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1299 | 1484 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 1927 |
| EQ-Bench 4 | — | 1260 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 8B better than Muse Spark 1.1?
Muse Spark 1.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 49.9 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 19× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Muse Spark 1.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Granite 4.2 8B or Muse Spark 1.1?
Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.25 per million output tokens; Muse Spark 1.1 lists at $1.25 and $4.25.
Is Granite 4.2 8B or Muse Spark 1.1 better for coding?
Muse Spark 1.1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.8 versus 39.9 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Muse Spark 1.1 does, with 1.05M tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 8B and Muse Spark 1.1 share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 8B has 11 scored results on Noometry and Muse Spark 1.1 has 36.