# Granite 4.2 3b vs Qwen Max

> Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 34.4 on the Noometry Index.

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

## Summary

- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 3b scores higher in 5 categories and Qwen Max in 2 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in coding, where Granite 4.2 3b leads 39.4 to 30.3.
- Granite 4.2 3b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 39.0 | 34.4 |
| Rank | 163 | 226 |
| Context | — | 33K |
| Input $/M | — | $1.60 |
| Output $/M | — | $6.40 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Granite 4.2 3b: 39.4 (#146)
- Qwen Max: 30.3 (#288)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1363 | 1288 |
| Aider Polyglot | — | 21.8% |

## Reasoning

- Granite 4.2 3b: 25.0 (#136)
- Qwen Max: 24.1 (#154)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1308 | 1270 |

## Math

- Granite 4.2 3b: —
- Qwen Max: 21.0 (#272)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 16.1% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1275 |
| MATH Level 5 | — | 67.2% |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 1% |

## Knowledge

- Granite 4.2 3b: 35.6 (#169)
- Qwen Max: 30.3 (#222)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1313 | 1248 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 56.1% |

## Multilingual

- Granite 4.2 3b: 42.4 (#193)
- Qwen Max: 42.0 (#197)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1268 | 1263 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1268 | 1254 |
| LMArena Russian | 1249 | 1274 |
| LMArena French | — | 1329 |
| LMArena German | — | 1254 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1205 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1141 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1290 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 4.2 3b: 67.2 (#195)
- Qwen Max: 66.7 (#203)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1271 | 1262 |

## Long Context

- Granite 4.2 3b: 39.3 (#179)
- Qwen Max: 39.4 (#175)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1293 | 1289 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | — | 66.7% |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 4.2 3b: 47.9 (#202)
- Qwen Max: 48.0 (#200)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 3b | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1295 | 1282 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1215 | 1248 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1293 | 1277 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 4.2 3b better than Qwen Max?

Granite 4.2 3b is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.0 to 34.4 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 4.2 3b or Qwen Max better for coding?

Granite 4.2 3b scores higher on coding benchmarks: 39.4 versus 30.3 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 3b and Qwen Max share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 3b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Qwen Max has 23.