# Granite 4.2 30b vs Llama 3.2 3B

> Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.8 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-4-2-30b-vs-llama-3-2-3b
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 11

## Summary

- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 30b scores higher in 7 categories and Llama 3.2 3B in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Granite 4.2 30b leads 53.8 to 24.7.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Meta |
| Noometry Index | 41.8 | 28.9 |
| Rank | 130 | 321 |
| Context | — | 131K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.05 |
| Output $/M | — | $0.33 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Granite 4.2 30b: 41.0 (#126)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 27.6 (#319)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1396 | 1098 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 23.4% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 28.3% |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 4.2 30b: —
- Llama 3.2 3B: 20.1 (#143)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 21.9% |
| BALROG | — | 10.1% |

## Reasoning

- Granite 4.2 30b: 27.8 (#112)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 21.0 (#228)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1374 | 1095 |

## Math

- Granite 4.2 30b: —
- Llama 3.2 3B: 32.4 (#214)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1126 |

## Knowledge

- Granite 4.2 30b: 39.1 (#138)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 29.7 (#235)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1406 | 1090 |

## Multilingual

- Granite 4.2 30b: 47.3 (#151)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 26.2 (#281)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1340 | 1019 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1414 | 1017 |
| LMArena Russian | 1343 | 949 |
| LMArena German | — | 1056 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 4.2 30b: 71.2 (#155)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 56.0 (#275)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1347 | 1089 |

## Long Context

- Granite 4.2 30b: 41.4 (#140)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 33.4 (#261)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1359 | 1100 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 4.2 30b: 53.8 (#156)
- Llama 3.2 3B: 24.7 (#307)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Llama 3.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1361 | 1110 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1288 | 1094 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1339 | 1105 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 595 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 4.2 30b better than Llama 3.2 3B?

Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.8 to 28.9 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 4.2 30b or Llama 3.2 3B better for coding?

Granite 4.2 30b scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.0 versus 27.6 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 30b and Llama 3.2 3B share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 30b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Llama 3.2 3B has 18.