# Granite 3.0 2b Instruct vs Grok 4.3

> Grok 4.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 30.8 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-3-0-2b-instruct-vs-grok-4-3
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 3.0 2b Instruct scores higher in 0 categories and Grok 4.3 in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Grok 4.3 leads 58.5 to 29.6.
- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | xAI |
| Noometry Index | 30.8 | 43.8 |
| Rank | 286 | 86 |
| Context | — | 1M |
| Input $/M | — | $1.25 |
| Output $/M | — | $2.50 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 28.3 (#316)
- Grok 4.3: 41.6 (#121)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1090 | 1415 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1357 |
| SciCode | — | 47.3% |
| WeirdML | — | 49.9% |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 20.5% | — |
| ALE-Bench | — | 944.17 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: —
- Grok 4.3: 27.7 (#99)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| GDP.pdf | — | 8% |
| LMArena Search | — | 1165 |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 35.26 |

## Reasoning

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 20.5 (#235)
- Grok 4.3: 35.9 (#68)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1073 | 1396 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 55.2% |
| CritPt | — | 8% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 25% |
| DTBench | — | 90.7% |
| LMCA | — | 38.3% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 149.16 |
| ForecastBench | — | 60.3 |

## Math

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 32.2 (#217)
- Grok 4.3: 46.0 (#74)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1117 | 1388 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | — | 42.8% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | — | 14.6% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 93.3% |
| ProofBench | — | 11% |

## Knowledge

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 29.0 (#241)
- Grok 4.3: 52.5 (#62)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1064 | 1385 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 88.8% |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 33.2% |

## Multimodal

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: —
- Grok 4.3: 31.6 (#104)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1229 |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | — | 0% |

## Multilingual

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 27.0 (#278)
- Grok 4.3: 50.5 (#120)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1033 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1070 | 1422 |
| LMArena Russian | 1045 | 1399 |
| LMArena French | — | 1412 |
| LMArena German | — | 1395 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1379 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1356 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1398 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 53.9 (#284)
- Grok 4.3: 72.1 (#140)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1056 | 1366 |

## Long Context

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 32.5 (#268)
- Grok 4.3: 42.5 (#123)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1070 | 1393 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 3.0 2b Instruct: 29.6 (#292)
- Grok 4.3: 58.5 (#118)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.0 2b Instruct | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1080 | 1397 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1046 | 1380 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1053 | 1406 |
| EQ-Bench 4 | — | 1075 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 3.0 2b Instruct better than Grok 4.3?

Grok 4.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 30.8 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 3.0 2b Instruct or Grok 4.3 better for coding?

Grok 4.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.6 versus 28.3 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 3.0 2b Instruct and Grok 4.3 share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.0 2b Instruct has 13 scored results on Noometry and Grok 4.3 has 40.