Model Comparison

Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Mistral NeMo InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Mistral NeMo Instruct has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Verdict: Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Mistral NeMo Instruct — which is better?

Granite 3.3 8B Base (by IBM) and Mistral NeMo Instruct (by Mistral AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Granite 3.3 8B Base outperforms in 2 benchmarks (TriviaQA, TruthfulQA), while Mistral NeMo Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (HellaSwag, MMLU, Winogrande). Mistral NeMo Instruct has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Choose Granite 3.3 8B Base if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025

Choose Mistral NeMo Instruct if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Granite 3.3 8B Base outperforms in 2 benchmarks (TriviaQA, TruthfulQA), while Mistral NeMo Instruct is better at 3 benchmarks (HellaSwag, MMLU, Winogrande).

Mistral NeMo Instruct has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

3.8B diff

Mistral NeMo Instruct has 3.8B more parameters than Granite 3.3 8B Base, making it 46.9% larger.

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
8.2Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
12.0Bparameters
8.2B
Granite 3.3 8B Base
12.0B
Mistral NeMo Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral NeMo Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Mistral NeMo Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sun Jul 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Granite 3.3 8B Base supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mistral NeMo Instruct does not.

Granite 3.3 8B Base can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Granite 3.3 8B Base was released on 2025-04-16, while Mistral NeMo Instruct was released on 2024-07-18.

Granite 3.3 8B Base is 9 months newer than Mistral NeMo Instruct.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 16, 2025

1.3 years ago

9mo newer
Mistral NeMo Instruct

Jul 18, 2024

2.0 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Granite 3.3 8B Base has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while Mistral NeMo Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Granite 3.3 8B Base's training data extends to 2024-04-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Mistral NeMo Instruct's cutoff date.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 2024

Mistral NeMo Instruct

—

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

IBM
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher TriviaQA score (78.2% vs 73.8%)
Higher TruthfulQA score (52.1% vs 50.3%)
Mistral AI
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Higher HellaSwag score (83.5% vs 80.1%)
Higher MMLU score (68.0% vs 63.9%)
Higher Winogrande score (76.8% vs 74.4%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

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

Granite 3.3 8B Base
✓ Preferred
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Mistral NeMo Instruct.

Which is better, Granite 3.3 8B Base or Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Mistral NeMo Instruct has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Granite 3.3 8B Base is made by IBM and Mistral NeMo Instruct is made by Mistral AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Granite 3.3 8B Base compare to Mistral NeMo Instruct in benchmarks?

Granite 3.3 8B Base scores HumanEval: 89.7%, AttaQ: 88.5%, HumanEval+: 86.1%, AIME 2024: 81.2%, HellaSwag: 80.1%. Mistral NeMo Instruct scores HellaSwag: 83.5%, Winogrande: 76.8%, TriviaQA: 73.8%, CommonSenseQA: 70.4%, MMLU: 68.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Granite 3.3 8B Base and Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Granite 3.3 8B Base supports an unknown number of tokens and Mistral NeMo Instruct supports 128K 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 Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Granite 3.3 8B Base and Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Granite 3.3 8B Base is developed by IBM and Mistral NeMo Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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