Model Comparison

Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Nova MicroWhich is better in 2026?

Nova Micro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Nova Micro — which is better?

Granite 3.3 8B Base (by IBM) and Nova Micro (by Amazon) 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 1 benchmarks (HumanEval), while Nova Micro is better at 5 benchmarks (ARC-C, DROP, GSM8k, IFEval, MMLU). Nova Micro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Granite 3.3 8B Base if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Nova Micro if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 6 shared benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

6 benchmarks

Granite 3.3 8B Base outperforms in 1 benchmarks (HumanEval), while Nova Micro is better at 5 benchmarks (ARC-C, DROP, GSM8k, IFEval, MMLU).

Nova Micro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jun 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Nova Micro specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Nova Micro specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Amazon
Nova Micro
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sat Jun 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Granite 3.3 8B Base supports multimodal inputs, whereas Nova Micro 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

Nova Micro

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Granite 3.3 8B Base is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Nova Micro 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

Nova Micro

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Granite 3.3 8B Base was released on 2025-04-16, while Nova Micro was released on 2024-11-20.

Granite 3.3 8B Base is 5 months newer than Nova Micro.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 16, 2025

1.2 years ago

4mo newer
Nova Micro

Nov 20, 2024

1.6 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Granite 3.3 8B Base has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while Nova Micro'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 Nova Micro's cutoff date.

Granite 3.3 8B Base

Apr 2024

Nova Micro

—

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

IBM
Supports multimodal inputs
Has open weights
Higher HumanEval score (89.7% vs 81.1%)
Amazon
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Higher ARC-C score (90.2% vs 50.8%)
Higher DROP score (79.3% vs 36.1%)
Higher GSM8k score (92.3% vs 59.0%)
Higher IFEval score (87.2% vs 74.8%)
Higher MMLU score (77.6% vs 63.9%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

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

Granite 3.3 8B Base
✓ Preferred
Nova Micro
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
IBM
Granite 3.3 8B Base
Amazon
Nova Micro

FAQ

Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Base vs Nova Micro.

Which is better, Granite 3.3 8B Base or Nova Micro?

Nova Micro significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Granite 3.3 8B Base is made by IBM and Nova Micro is made by Amazon. 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 Nova Micro in benchmarks?

Granite 3.3 8B Base scores HumanEval: 89.7%, AttaQ: 88.5%, HumanEval+: 86.1%, AIME 2024: 81.2%, HellaSwag: 80.1%. Nova Micro scores GSM8k: 92.3%, ARC-C: 90.2%, Translation Set1→en COMET22: 88.7%, Translation en→Set1 COMET22: 88.5%, IFEval: 87.2%.

What are the context window sizes for Granite 3.3 8B Base and Nova Micro?

Granite 3.3 8B Base supports an unknown number of tokens and Nova Micro 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 Nova Micro?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Granite 3.3 8B Base and Nova Micro?

Granite 3.3 8B Base is developed by IBM and Nova Micro is developed by Amazon.

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