# Granite 3.1 2b Instruct vs Grok 4.1 Fast

> Grok 4.1 Fast is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.4 to 33.2 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-3-1-2b-instruct-vs-grok-4-1-fast
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 3.1 2b Instruct scores higher in 1 category and Grok 4.1 Fast in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Grok 4.1 Fast leads 57.2 to 34.1.
- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | xAI |
| Noometry Index | 33.2 | 41.4 |
| Rank | 247 | 136 |
| Context | — | 128K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.20 |
| Output $/M | — | $0.50 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 33.4 (#257)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 34.1 (#245)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1149 | 1411 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1242 |
| ALE-Bench | — | 394.93 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: —
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 36.3 (#39)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 69.6% |
| τ²-bench Banking | — | 13.1% |
| LMArena Search | — | 1171 |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 1,107 |

## Reasoning

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 22.0 (#209)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 43.4 (#49)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1138 | 1407 |
| SimpleBench | — | 56% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 87.4% |
| DTBench | — | 87.7% |
| ForecastBench | — | 61 |

## Math

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 33.1 (#206)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 31.9 (#221)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1159 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 60.9% |
| ProofBench | — | 4% |

## Knowledge

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 30.8 (#224)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 33.1 (#207)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1131 | 1399 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 17.8% |

## Multimodal

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: —
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 37.0 (#76)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1201 |

## Multilingual

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 29.1 (#269)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 51.0 (#114)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1068 | 1391 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1139 | 1441 |
| LMArena Russian | 1063 | 1387 |
| LMArena French | — | 1415 |
| LMArena German | — | 1404 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1349 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1361 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1413 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 57.7 (#264)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 72.7 (#133)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1116 | 1376 |

## Long Context

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 35.0 (#244)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 42.4 (#126)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1155 | 1390 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 34.1 (#274)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: 57.2 (#131)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 2b Instruct | Grok 4.1 Fast |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1127 | 1408 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1116 | 1394 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1099 | 1389 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 1327 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 3.1 2b Instruct better than Grok 4.1 Fast?

Grok 4.1 Fast is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.4 to 33.2 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 3.1 2b Instruct or Grok 4.1 Fast better for coding?

They score almost the same on coding (33.4 vs 34.1); test both on your own repository before choosing.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 3.1 2b Instruct and Grok 4.1 Fast share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.1 2b Instruct has 12 scored results on Noometry and Grok 4.1 Fast has 32.