# Granite 3.1 8b Instruct vs Step 5 Preview

> Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-3-1-8b-instruct-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 38.0 to 21.2.
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 31.8 | 43.8 |
| Rank | 256 | 78 |
| Context | — | 1.02M |
| Input $/M | — | $1 |
| Output $/M | — | $2.70 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 33.9 (#232)
- Step 5 Preview: 50.6 (#40)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1569 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
| LMArena Coding | 1186 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 23.9 (#113)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 27.1% | — |

## Reasoning

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 21.2 (#204)
- Step 5 Preview: 38.0 (#58)

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1146 | — |

## Math

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 30.4 (#210)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1152 | — |

## Knowledge

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 30.6 (#218)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1142 | — |

## Multilingual

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 31.1 (#255)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1099 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1145 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1092 | — |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 58.9 (#254)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1131 | — |

## Long Context

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.2 (#236)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1162 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.7 (#261)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1150 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1129 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1108 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 3.1 8b Instruct better than Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 31.8 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 3.1 8b Instruct or Step 5 Preview better for coding?

Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.6 versus 33.9 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 3.1 8b Instruct and Step 5 Preview share?

0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.1 8b Instruct has 13 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 3.