Model Comparison
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Jamba 1.5 MiniWhich is better in 2026?
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Jamba 1.5 Mini is 2.0x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Jamba 1.5 Mini — which is better?
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct (by IBM) and Jamba 1.5 Mini (by AI21 Labs) 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 Instruct outperforms in 3 benchmarks (Arena Hard, GSM8k, TruthfulQA), while Jamba 1.5 Mini is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU). Granite 3.3 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, Jamba 1.5 Mini is roughly 2.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Jamba 1.5 Mini also accepts a larger context window (256,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Granite 3.3 8B Instruct if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
Choose Jamba 1.5 Mini if…
- cost matters — it's about 2.0x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 256,144 token context window
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct outperforms in 3 benchmarks (Arena Hard, GSM8k, TruthfulQA), while Jamba 1.5 Mini is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU).
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 2.5x more expensive than Jamba 1.5 Mini ($0.20/1M tokens).
For output processing, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 1.3x more expensive than Jamba 1.5 Mini ($0.40/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is more expensive than Jamba 1.5 Mini.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Jamba 1.5 Mini has 44.0B more parameters than Granite 3.3 8B Instruct, making it 550.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256,144 input tokens compared to Granite 3.3 8B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Jamba 1.5 Mini can generate longer responses up to 256,144 tokens, while Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is limited to 8,192 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas Jamba 1.5 Mini does not.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Jamba 1.5 Mini
License
Usage and distribution terms
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Jamba 1.5 Mini uses Jamba Open Model License.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Jamba Open Model License
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct was released on 2025-04-16, while Jamba 1.5 Mini was released on 2024-08-22.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is 8 months newer than Jamba 1.5 Mini.
Apr 16, 2025
1.2 years ago
7mo newerAug 22, 2024
1.9 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has a knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while Jamba 1.5 Mini has a cutoff of 2024-03-05.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has more recent training data (up to 2024-04-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Jamba 1.5 Mini (2024-03-05).
Apr 2024
1 mo newerMar 2024
Provider Availability
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is available from Replicate. Jamba 1.5 Mini is available from Bedrock, Google.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Jamba 1.5 Mini
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Jamba 1.5 Mini
View detailsAI21 Labs
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Jamba 1.5 Mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
| Feature |
|---|
FAQ
Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Jamba 1.5 Mini.