# Granite 3.1 2b Instruct vs Granite 3.1 8b Instruct

> Granite 3.1 2b Instruct and Granite 3.1 8b Instruct score almost the same on the Noometry Index (32.6 vs 31.8), so choose on price, context window or the category you care about most.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-3-1-2b-instruct-vs-granite-3-1-8b-instruct
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 3.1 2b Instruct scores higher in 1 category and Granite 3.1 8b Instruct in 7 categories; 3 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | IBM |
| Noometry Index | 32.6 | 31.8 |
| Rank | 243 | 256 |
| Context | — | — |
| Input $/M | — | — |
| Output $/M | — | — |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 32.9 (#255)
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 33.9 (#232)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1149 | 1186 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: —
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 23.9 (#113)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |

## Reasoning

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 21.0 (#206)
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 21.2 (#204)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1138 | 1146 |

## Math

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 30.6 (#206)
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 30.4 (#210)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1159 | 1152 |

## Knowledge

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 30.3 (#223)
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 30.6 (#218)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1131 | 1142 |

## Multilingual

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 29.2 (#264)
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 31.1 (#255)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1068 | 1099 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1138 | 1145 |
| LMArena Russian | 1063 | 1092 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 58.0 (#259)
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 58.9 (#254)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1116 | 1131 |

## Long Context

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 35.0 (#239)
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.2 (#236)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1155 | 1162 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 34.3 (#269)
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.7 (#261)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1127 | 1150 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1116 | 1129 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1099 | 1108 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 3.1 2b Instruct better than Granite 3.1 8b Instruct?

Granite 3.1 2b Instruct and Granite 3.1 8b Instruct score almost the same on the Noometry Index (32.6 vs 31.8), so choose on price, context window or the category you care about most.

### Is Granite 3.1 2b Instruct or Granite 3.1 8b Instruct better for coding?

Granite 3.1 8b Instruct scores higher on coding benchmarks: 33.9 versus 32.9 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 3.1 2b Instruct and Granite 3.1 8b Instruct share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.1 2b Instruct has 12 scored results on Noometry and Granite 3.1 8b Instruct has 13.