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DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B vs IBM Granite 4.2 3B

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B and IBM Granite 4.2 3B are closely matched at 8.6 and 15.6 on the LLM Stats Score.

DeepSeek · IBM · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B and IBM Granite 4.2 3B are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 8.6 and 15.6.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, IBM Granite 4.2 3B wins 1; 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 DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B

  • you are already invested in the DeepSeek ecosystem

Choose IBM Granite 4.2 3B

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
DeepSeek
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
IBM
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
8.6
#261
15.6
#213
Reasoning
8.9
#251
12.0
#234
Coding
2.2
#214
-6.7
#247
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Math
14.1#211
13.7#216
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

4 reported for DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B · 13 for IBM Granite 4.2 3B

1 shared

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while IBM Granite 4.2 3B is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

IBM Granite 4.2 3B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

4.6B diff

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B has 4.6B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 3B, making it 154.0% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
7.6Bparameters
IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
3.0Bparameters
7.6B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
3.0B
IBM Granite 4.2 3B

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B is licensed under MIT, while IBM Granite 4.2 3B uses Apache 2.0.

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

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B

MIT

Open weights

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B was released on 2025-01-20, while IBM Granite 4.2 3B was released on 2026-08-25.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is 19 months newer than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B

Jan 20, 2025

1.6 years ago

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Aug 25, 2026

5 days ago

1.6yr 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 DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B and IBM Granite 4.2 3B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
✓ Preferred
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B vs IBM Granite 4.2 3B.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B or IBM Granite 4.2 3B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B and IBM Granite 4.2 3B are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 8.6 and 15.6. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B is made by DeepSeek and IBM Granite 4.2 3B is made by IBM. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B compare to IBM Granite 4.2 3B in benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B scores MATH-500: 92.8%, AIME 2024: 83.3%, GPQA: 49.1%, LiveCodeBench: 37.6%. IBM Granite 4.2 3B scores AIME 2025: 78.3%, IFBench: 74.3%, LiveCodeBench v6: 69.7%, MMLU-Pro: 67.8%, RULER 64k: 67.5%.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B and IBM Granite 4.2 3B?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (8.6 vs 15.6), licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B and IBM Granite 4.2 3B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B is developed by DeepSeek and IBM Granite 4.2 3B is developed by IBM.

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