# Granite 4.0 H Small vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.7 to 35.9 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/ibm-granite-h-small-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 13

## Summary

- They share 13 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.0 H Small scores higher in 1 category and Step 3.5 Flash in 7 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 59.0 to 44.0.

## Snapshot

| | Granite 4.0 H Small | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 35.9 | 41.7 |
| Rank | 213 | 116 |
| Context | — | 256K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | — | $0.30 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- Granite 4.0 H Small: 35.8 (#207)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 41.7 (#106)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.0 H Small | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1247 | 1436 |

## Reasoning

- Granite 4.0 H Small: 23.4 (#164)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 21.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.0 H Small | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1240 | 1411 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |

## Math

- Granite 4.0 H Small: 29.3 (#219)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 40.6 (#77)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.0 H Small | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1251 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| Omni-MATH | 29.6% | — |

## Knowledge

- Granite 4.0 H Small: 31.5 (#210)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.0 (#127)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.0 H Small | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1244 | 1422 |
| MMLU-Pro | 56.9% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 5.2% | — |
| GPQA (HELM) | 38.3% | — |

## Multilingual

- Granite 4.0 H Small: 38.7 (#223)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.7 (#115)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.0 H Small | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1216 | 1386 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1250 | 1448 |
| LMArena Russian | 1198 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1258 | 1419 |
| LMArena French | — | 1421 |
| LMArena German | — | 1404 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1353 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1350 |

## Instruction Following

- Granite 4.0 H Small: 68.9 (#178)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.3 (#119)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.0 H Small | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1221 | 1385 |
| IFEval | 89% | — |

## Long Context

- Granite 4.0 H Small: 37.6 (#209)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#112)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.0 H Small | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1240 | 1402 |

## Writing & Preference

- Granite 4.0 H Small: 44.0 (#222)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 59.0 (#108)

| Benchmark | Granite 4.0 H Small | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1241 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1210 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1243 | 1405 |
| WildBench | 73.9% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Granite 4.0 H Small better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.7 to 35.9 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Granite 4.0 H Small or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.7 versus 35.8 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Granite 4.0 H Small and Step 3.5 Flash share?

13 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.0 H Small has 19 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.