The AI arena is free today

Open Superagent

Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs IBM Granite 4.2 30B

Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads the LLM Stats Score 37.4 to 24.0.

Anthropic · IBM · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 37.4 to 24.0, ranking #59 overall.

In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

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

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6

  • overall performance matters — it scores 37.4 and ranks #59 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

Choose IBM Granite 4.2 30B

  • 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 4.6
Anthropic
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
IBM
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
37.4
#59
24.0
#156
Reasoning
38.4
#56
21.8
#165
Coding
26.5
#56
9.6
#159
Agents
24.8
#41
7.9
#124
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
2 of 2
0 of 2
Input price
$3.00 / M
— / M
Output price
$15.00 / M
— / M
Context window
200,000
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

3 shared
Index
Claude Sonnet 4.6
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
Math
34.3#47
25.6#103
Tool use
22.0#46
10.6#116
Long context
12.4#57
14.0#50
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

17 reported for Claude Sonnet 4.6 · 18 for IBM Granite 4.2 30B

2 shared

Claude Sonnet 4.6 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, SWE-Bench Verified), while IBM Granite 4.2 30B is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Claude Sonnet 4.6 specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude Sonnet 4.6 specifies output context (64,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports multimodal inputs, whereas IBM Granite 4.2 30B does not.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

IBM Granite 4.2 30B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is licensed under a proprietary license, while IBM Granite 4.2 30B uses Apache 2.0.

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

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

IBM Granite 4.2 30B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released on 2026-02-17, while IBM Granite 4.2 30B was released on 2026-08-25.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B is 6 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.6.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Feb 17, 2026

6 months ago

IBM Granite 4.2 30B

Aug 25, 2026

6 days ago

6mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.6 and IBM Granite 4.2 30B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 4.6
✓ Preferred
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs IBM Granite 4.2 30B.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or IBM Granite 4.2 30B?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads the LLM Stats Score 37.4 to 24.0. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is made by Anthropic and IBM Granite 4.2 30B 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 4.6 compare to IBM Granite 4.2 30B in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores Tau2 Telecom: 97.9%, Tau2 Retail: 91.7%, GPQA: 89.9%, MMMLU: 89.3%, SWE-Bench Verified: 79.6%. IBM Granite 4.2 30B scores RULER 64k: 90.0%, AIME 2025: 89.2%, HMMT25: 89.2%, RULER 128k: 81.4%, MMLU-Pro: 77.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and IBM Granite 4.2 30B?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports 200K tokens and IBM Granite 4.2 30B supports an unknown number of 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 4.6 and IBM Granite 4.2 30B?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (37.4 vs 24.0), 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 4.6 and IBM Granite 4.2 30B?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is developed by Anthropic and IBM Granite 4.2 30B is developed by IBM.

Related comparisons