# Granite 4.2 8B vs Step 5 Preview

> Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 13× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/granite-4-2-8b-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 11

## Summary

- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 8B scores higher in 0 categories and Step 5 Preview in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 40.0 to 26.6.
- Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.25 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 131K.
- Granite 4.2 8B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 40.5 | 47.9 |
| Rank | 148 | 58 |
| Context | 131K | 1.02M |
| Input $/M | $0.06 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $0.25 | $2.70 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Granite 4.2 8B: 40.5 (#137)
- Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1380 | 1480 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1564 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |

## Reasoning

- Granite 4.2 8B: 26.6 (#131)
- Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1329 | 1465 |
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |

## Math

- Granite 4.2 8B: —
- Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| ProofBench | — | 42% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1470 |

## Knowledge

- Granite 4.2 8B: 38.4 (#145)
- Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1384 | 1470 |

## Multimodal

- Granite 4.2 8B: —
- Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1267 |

## Multilingual

- Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#178)
- Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1302 | 1432 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1366 | 1519 |
| LMArena Russian | 1285 | 1436 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1439 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#184)
- Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1301 | 1444 |

## Long Context

- Granite 4.2 8B: 40.3 (#159)
- Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1324 | 1455 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 4.2 8B: 49.6 (#189)
- Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1320 | 1442 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1236 | 1410 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1301 | 1447 |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 4.2 8B better than Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 13× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, Granite 4.2 8B or Step 5 Preview?

Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.25 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.

### Is Granite 4.2 8B or Step 5 Preview better for coding?

Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.8 versus 40.5 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 8B and Step 5 Preview share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 8B has 11 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.