# Granite 4.2 3b vs Nova 2.0 Pro Preview

> Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 32.8 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-4-2-3b-vs-nova-2-0-pro-preview
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Granite 4.2 3b leads 25.0 to 21.7.
- Granite 4.2 3b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 4.2 3b | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 39.0 | 32.8 |
| Rank | 163 | 241 |
| Context | — | — |
| Input $/M | — | — |
| Output $/M | — | — |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Granite 4.2 3b: 39.4 (#146)
- Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 40.2 (#130)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | — | 42.7% |
| LMArena Coding | 1363 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Granite 4.2 3b: —
- Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 21.9 (#127)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| GDP.pdf | — | 2% |

## Reasoning

- Granite 4.2 3b: 25.0 (#136)
- Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 21.7 (#189)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | — | 0% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1308 | — |

## Knowledge

- Granite 4.2 3b: 35.6 (#169)
- Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1313 | — |

## Multilingual

- Granite 4.2 3b: 42.4 (#193)
- Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1268 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1268 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1249 | — |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 4.2 3b: 67.2 (#195)
- Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1271 | — |

## Long Context

- Granite 4.2 3b: 39.3 (#179)
- Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1293 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 4.2 3b: 47.9 (#202)
- Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: —

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Nova 2.0 Pro Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1295 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1215 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1293 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 4.2 3b better than Nova 2.0 Pro Preview?

Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 32.8 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 4.2 3b or Nova 2.0 Pro Preview better for coding?

They score almost the same on coding (39.4 vs 40.2); test both on your own repository before choosing.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 3b and Nova 2.0 Pro Preview share?

0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 3b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2.0 Pro Preview has 3.