# DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Granite 4.2 8B

> DeepSeek-V3.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.2 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 4.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when DeepSeek-V3.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/deepseek-v3-1-vs-granite-4-2-8b
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 11

## Summary

- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek-V3.1 scores higher in 5 categories and Granite 4.2 8B in 2 categories; 6 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where DeepSeek-V3.1 leads 60.5 to 49.8.
- Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.25 per million input/output tokens, against $0.25 / $0.95 for DeepSeek-V3.1.
- DeepSeek-V3.1 accepts more context: 164K tokens versus 131K.

## Snapshot

| | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | IBM |
| Noometry Index | 42.2 | 40.0 |
| Rank | 106 | 143 |
| Context | 164K | 131K |
| Input $/M | $0.25 | $0.06 |
| Output $/M | $0.95 | $0.25 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- DeepSeek-V3.1: 39.8 (#140)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 39.9 (#138)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1417 | 1379 |
| WeirdML | 38.4% | — |

## Reasoning

- DeepSeek-V3.1: 27.3 (#109)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 25.5 (#130)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1417 | 1327 |
| SimpleBench | 40% | — |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 53.2% | — |
| DTBench | 82.7% | — |
| LMCA | 24.3% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 139.92 | — |
| ForecastBench | 58 | — |

## Math

- DeepSeek-V3.1: 36.1 (#125)
- Granite 4.2 8B: —

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1420 | — |

## Knowledge

- DeepSeek-V3.1: 43.0 (#86)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 37.7 (#144)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1403 | 1380 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.5% | — |

## Multilingual

- DeepSeek-V3.1: 51.8 (#100)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#173)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1400 | 1299 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1470 | 1361 |
| LMArena Russian | 1405 | 1283 |
| LMArena French | 1447 | — |
| LMArena German | 1412 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1374 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1337 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1429 | — |

## Instruction Following

- DeepSeek-V3.1: 74.1 (#105)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#183)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1400 | 1298 |

## Long Context

- DeepSeek-V3.1: 36.3 (#227)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 40.2 (#154)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1422 | 1323 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 52.8% | — |

## Writing & Preference

- DeepSeek-V3.1: 60.5 (#93)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 49.8 (#183)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek-V3.1 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1420 | 1319 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1401 | 1238 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1408 | 1299 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1436 | — |

## FAQ

### Is DeepSeek-V3.1 better than Granite 4.2 8B?

DeepSeek-V3.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.2 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 4.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when DeepSeek-V3.1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3.1 or Granite 4.2 8B?

Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.25 per million output tokens; DeepSeek-V3.1 lists at $0.25 and $0.95.

### Is DeepSeek-V3.1 or Granite 4.2 8B better for coding?

They score almost the same on coding (39.8 vs 39.9); test both on your own repository before choosing.

### Which has the bigger context window?

DeepSeek-V3.1 does, with 164K tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do DeepSeek-V3.1 and Granite 4.2 8B share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek-V3.1 has 27 scored results on Noometry and Granite 4.2 8B has 11.