Model comparison
Granite 4.2 8B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Granite 4.2 8B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning score almost the same on the Noometry Index (40.5 vs 40.0), so choose on price, context window or the category you care about most.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
NVIDIASummary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 8B scores higher in 5 categories and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning in 2 categories; one gap is clear of the uncertainty.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.06 / $0.25 for Granite 4.2 8B.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 131K.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | NVIDIA |
| Noometry Index | 40.5 | 40.0 |
| Released | — | 2026-08-11 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 131K | 262K |
| Max output | 118K | 262K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.06 | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.25 | $0.20 |
| Results tracked | 11 | 18 |
Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry
Category by category
Coding Too close to call
Granite 4.2 8B: 40.5 (#137), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 40.4 (#141)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1380 | 1375 |
Reasoning Too close to call
Granite 4.2 8B: 26.6 (#131), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 26.8 (#127)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1329 | 1337 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 8B: —, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#155)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1359 |
Knowledge Too close to call
Granite 4.2 8B: 38.4 (#145), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#154)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1384 | 1356 |
Multilingual Too close to call
Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#178), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 44.0 (#180)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1302 | 1295 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1366 | 1359 |
| LMArena Russian | 1285 | 1253 |
| LMArena French | — | 1366 |
| LMArena German | — | 1282 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1206 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1238 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1345 |
Instruction Following Too close to call
Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#184), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 69.6 (#170)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1301 | 1318 |
Long Context Too close to call
Granite 4.2 8B: 40.3 (#159), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.9 (#165)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1324 | 1314 |
Writing & Preference Granite 4.2 8B leads
Granite 4.2 8B: 49.6 (#189), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 48.5 (#201)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1320 | 1327 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1236 | 1254 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1301 | 1328 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 1280 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 8B better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Granite 4.2 8B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning score almost the same on the Noometry Index (40.5 vs 40.0), so choose on price, context window or the category you care about most.
Which is cheaper, Granite 4.2 8B or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; Granite 4.2 8B lists at $0.06 and $0.25.
Is Granite 4.2 8B or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better for coding?
They score almost the same on coding (40.5 vs 40.4); test both on your own repository before choosing.
Which has the bigger context window?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning does, with 262K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 8B and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 8B has 11 scored results on Noometry and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has 18.