# Granite 4.2 30b vs MiniMax-M2

> Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.4 to 36.9 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-4-2-30b-vs-minimax-m2
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 11

## Summary

- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 30b scores higher in 7 categories and MiniMax-M2 in 0 categories; 4 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Granite 4.2 30b leads 26.7 to 18.6.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | MiniMax |
| Noometry Index | 41.4 | 36.9 |
| Rank | 126 | 201 |
| Context | — | 205K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.30 |
| Output $/M | — | $1.20 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Granite 4.2 30b: 40.4 (#127)
- MiniMax-M2: 39.1 (#151)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1394 | 1370 |
| SWE-bench Verified (bash only) | — | 61% |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1297 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 4.2 30b: —
- MiniMax-M2: 24.9 (#102)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | — | 30% |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 160.6 |

## Reasoning

- Granite 4.2 30b: 26.7 (#114)
- MiniMax-M2: 18.6 (#256)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1375 | 1357 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 57.8% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 14.8% |

## Math

- Granite 4.2 30b: —
- MiniMax-M2: 34.6 (#158)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1350 |

## Knowledge

- Granite 4.2 30b: 38.5 (#134)
- MiniMax-M2: 36.3 (#160)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1405 | 1336 |

## Multilingual

- Granite 4.2 30b: 47.4 (#146)
- MiniMax-M2: 45.6 (#165)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1340 | 1314 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1415 | 1367 |
| LMArena Russian | 1342 | 1332 |
| LMArena French | — | 1336 |
| LMArena German | — | 1366 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1326 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 4.2 30b: 71.3 (#150)
- MiniMax-M2: 70.4 (#160)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1346 | 1329 |

## Long Context

- Granite 4.2 30b: 41.4 (#135)
- MiniMax-M2: 40.5 (#148)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1359 | 1332 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 4.2 30b: 54.3 (#147)
- MiniMax-M2: 53.3 (#157)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1363 | 1340 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1294 | 1288 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1340 | 1362 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 4.2 30b better than MiniMax-M2?

Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.4 to 36.9 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 4.2 30b or MiniMax-M2 better for coding?

Granite 4.2 30b scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.4 versus 39.1 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 30b and MiniMax-M2 share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 30b has 11 scored results on Noometry and MiniMax-M2 has 21.