# Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Granite 3.1 2b Instruct

> Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.9 to 33.2 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5-vs-granite-3-1-2b-instruct
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher in 8 categories and Granite 3.1 2b Instruct in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads 87.9 to 33.1.
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | IBM |
| Noometry Index | 61.9 | 33.2 |
| Rank | 10 | 247 |
| Context | 1M | — |
| Input $/M | $2 | — |
| Output $/M | $10 | — |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 67.3 (#6)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 33.4 (#257)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1513 | 1149 |
| FrontierCode | 52.1% | — |
| CursorBench | 55.5% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1774 | — |
| FrontierSWE | 61.9% | — |
| SciCode | 61% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,819 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 45.0 (#16)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: —

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 75.5% | — |

## Reasoning

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 54.0 (#28)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 22.0 (#209)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1495 | 1138 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 80.5% | — |
| CritPt | 31.4% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 65% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 165.03 | — |

## Math

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 87.9 (#6)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 33.1 (#206)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1510 | 1159 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 88.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 80.5% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 100% | — |
| ProofBench | 100% | — |
| FrontierMath Erdős | 2.9% | — |

## Knowledge

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 66.0 (#12)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 30.8 (#224)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1540 | 1131 |
| GPQA Diamond | 95.6% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 46.5% | — |

## Multimodal

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 51.5 (#6)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: —

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1289 | — |
| Furniture Assembly | 75% | — |

## Multilingual

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 55.3 (#30)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 29.1 (#269)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1452 | 1068 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1522 | 1139 |
| LMArena Russian | 1451 | 1063 |

## Instruction Following

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 78.3 (#11)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 57.7 (#264)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1495 | 1116 |

## Long Context

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 45.9 (#28)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 35.0 (#244)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1498 | 1155 |

## Writing & Preference

- Claude Sonnet 5.5: 66.0 (#40)
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 34.1 (#274)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1471 | 1127 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1465 | 1116 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1474 | 1099 |

## FAQ

### Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 better than Granite 3.1 2b Instruct?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.9 to 33.2 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Granite 3.1 2b Instruct better for coding?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 67.3 versus 33.4 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Granite 3.1 2b Instruct share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Claude Sonnet 5.5 has 32 scored results on Noometry and Granite 3.1 2b Instruct has 12.