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Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Grok 4.6

Comparing Granite 3.3 8B Base and Grok 4.6 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

IBM · xAI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Granite 3.3 8B Base and Grok 4.6 trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Granite 3.3 8B Base

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Grok 4.6

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Granite 3.3 8B Base
IBM
Grok 4.6
xAI
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
$2.00 / M
Output price
— / M
$6.00 / M
Context window
—
500,000
Released
Apr 2025
Aug 2026
License
Apache 2.0
Proprietary

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Granite 3.3 8B Base and Grok 4.6don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok 4.6 specifies input context (500,000 tokens).

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
xAI
Grok 4.6
Input500,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Mon Aug 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Granite 3.3 8B Base and Grok 4.6 support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Grok 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Granite 3.3 8B Base is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Grok 4.6 uses a proprietary license.

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

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Grok 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Granite 3.3 8B Base was released on 2025-04-16, while Grok 4.6 was released on 2026-08-12.

Grok 4.6 is 16 months newer than Granite 3.3 8B Base.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 16, 2025

1.4 years ago

Grok 4.6

Aug 12, 2026

1 weeks ago

1.3yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Granite 3.3 8B Base has a knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while Grok 4.6 has a cutoff of 2026-02-01.

Grok 4.6 has more recent training data (up to 2026-02-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Granite 3.3 8B Base (2024-04-01).

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 2024

Grok 4.6

Feb 2026

1.8 yr newer

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Granite 3.3 8B Base and Grok 4.6 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Granite 3.3 8B Base
✓ Preferred
Grok 4.6
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Grok 4.6.

Which is better, Granite 3.3 8B Base or Grok 4.6?

Granite 3.3 8B Base (IBM) and Grok 4.6 (xAI) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Granite 3.3 8B Base compare to Grok 4.6 in benchmarks?

Granite 3.3 8B Base scores HumanEval: 89.7%, AttaQ: 88.5%, HumanEval+: 86.1%, AIME 2024: 81.2%, HellaSwag: 80.1%. Grok 4.6 scores CursorBench v3.2: 69.9%, DeepSWE 1.1: 65.9%, FrontierCode: 61.3%, AA-Index: 61.0%, GDPval-AA: 58.4%.

What are the context window sizes for Granite 3.3 8B Base and Grok 4.6?

Granite 3.3 8B Base supports an unknown number of tokens and Grok 4.6 supports 500K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Granite 3.3 8B Base and Grok 4.6?

Key differences include licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Granite 3.3 8B Base and Grok 4.6?

Granite 3.3 8B Base is developed by IBM and Grok 4.6 is developed by xAI.

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