# Granite 3.1 8b Instruct vs MiniMax-M2.1

> MiniMax-M2.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.9 to 32.4 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-3-1-8b-instruct-vs-minimax-m2-1
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 12

## Summary

- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 3.1 8b Instruct scores higher in 1 category and MiniMax-M2.1 in 8 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where MiniMax-M2.1 leads 58.3 to 35.5.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | MiniMax |
| Noometry Index | 32.4 | 38.9 |
| Rank | 258 | 178 |
| Context | — | 205K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.30 |
| Output $/M | — | $1.20 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 34.5 (#233)
- MiniMax-M2.1: 40.4 (#143)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1186 | 1421 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1384 |
| ALE-Bench | — | 623.83 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 24.1 (#120)
- MiniMax-M2.1: 27.9 (#98)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | — | 36.6% |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 27.1% | — |

## Reasoning

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 22.1 (#207)
- MiniMax-M2.1: 16.6 (#302)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1145 | 1411 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 11.2% |

## Math

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 33.0 (#209)
- MiniMax-M2.1: 38.3 (#138)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1152 | 1397 |

## Knowledge

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 31.1 (#220)
- MiniMax-M2.1: 38.3 (#147)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1142 | 1431 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 11.8% |

## Multilingual

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 30.9 (#260)
- MiniMax-M2.1: 50.0 (#128)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1099 | 1378 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1145 | 1430 |
| LMArena Russian | 1092 | 1387 |
| LMArena French | — | 1404 |
| LMArena German | — | 1381 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1287 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1298 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1397 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 58.6 (#259)
- MiniMax-M2.1: 73.8 (#112)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1131 | 1400 |

## Long Context

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.2 (#241)
- MiniMax-M2.1: 43.2 (#101)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1162 | 1416 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.5 (#266)
- MiniMax-M2.1: 58.3 (#120)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1150 | 1392 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1129 | 1361 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1108 | 1396 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 3.1 8b Instruct better than MiniMax-M2.1?

MiniMax-M2.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.9 to 32.4 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 3.1 8b Instruct or MiniMax-M2.1 better for coding?

MiniMax-M2.1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.4 versus 34.5 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 3.1 8b Instruct and MiniMax-M2.1 share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.1 8b Instruct has 13 scored results on Noometry and MiniMax-M2.1 has 22.