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Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 32.1 to 19.7. IBM Granite 4.2 8B is 55.8x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · IBM · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 32.1 to 19.7, ranking #115 overall.

In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Claude Sonnet 4.5 wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, IBM Granite 4.2 8B is roughly 55.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.5

  • overall performance matters — it scores 32.1 and ranks #115 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window

Choose IBM Granite 4.2 8B

  • cost matters — it's about 55.8x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Sonnet 4.5
Anthropic
IBM Granite 4.2 8B
IBM
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
32.1
#115
19.7
#208
Reasoning
31.3
#116
17.4
#217
Coding
21.5
#95
2.4
#234
Agents
17.2
#82
1.7
#175
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
2 of 2
0 of 2
Input price
$3.00 / M
$0.06 / M
Output price
$15.00 / M
$0.25 / M
Context window
200,000
131,072

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Claude Sonnet 4.5
IBM Granite 4.2 8B
Math
25.0#117
21.1#151
Tool use
26.1#27
1.4#178
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

9 reported for Claude Sonnet 4.5 · 18 for IBM Granite 4.2 8B

2 shared

Claude Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA), while IBM Granite 4.2 8B is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Oct 05 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

IBM Granite 4.2 8B costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 50.0x more expensive than IBM Granite 4.2 8B ($0.06/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 60.0x more expensive than IBM Granite 4.2 8B ($0.25/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4.5 is more expensive than IBM Granite 4.2 8B.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Oct 05 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerAnthropic
IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 8B
Input tokens$0.06
Output tokens$0.25
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Sonnet 4.5 accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to IBM Granite 4.2 8B's 131,072 tokens. IBM Granite 4.2 8B can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 is limited to 64,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 8B
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Mon Oct 05 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports multimodal inputs, whereas IBM Granite 4.2 8B does not.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while IBM Granite 4.2 8B uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Proprietary

Closed source

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 4.5 was released on 2025-09-29, while IBM Granite 4.2 8B was released on 2026-08-25.

IBM Granite 4.2 8B is 11 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.5.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Sep 29, 2025

1.0 years ago

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

Aug 25, 2026

1 months ago

11mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while IBM Granite 4.2 8B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Claude Sonnet 4.5's training data extends to 2025-01-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without IBM Granite 4.2 8B's cutoff date.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Jan 2025

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

—

Provider Availability

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is available from Anthropic. IBM Granite 4.2 8B is available from DeepInfra.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M

IBM Granite 4.2 8B

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.06/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.25/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.5 and IBM Granite 4.2 8B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 4.5
✓ Preferred
IBM Granite 4.2 8B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs IBM Granite 4.2 8B.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or IBM Granite 4.2 8B?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 32.1 to 19.7. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is made by Anthropic and IBM Granite 4.2 8B is made by IBM. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Claude Sonnet 4.5 compare to IBM Granite 4.2 8B in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores MMMLU: 89.1%, AIME 2025: 87.0%, TAU-bench Retail: 86.2%, GPQA: 83.4%, MMMUval: 77.8%. IBM Granite 4.2 8B scores AIME 2025: 86.7%, RULER 64k: 81.0%, IFBench: 79.3%, HMMT25: 78.3%, MMLU-Pro: 74.0%.

Is Claude Sonnet 4.5 cheaper than IBM Granite 4.2 8B?

IBM Granite 4.2 8B is 50.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via anthropic. IBM Granite 4.2 8B costs $0.06/M input and $0.25/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 4.5 and IBM Granite 4.2 8B?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports 200K tokens and IBM Granite 4.2 8B supports 131K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Sonnet 4.5 and IBM Granite 4.2 8B?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (32.1 vs 19.7), context window (200K vs 131K), input pricing ($3.00 vs $0.06/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Sonnet 4.5 and IBM Granite 4.2 8B?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is developed by Anthropic and IBM Granite 4.2 8B is developed by IBM.

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