Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs o3-mini
o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is 3.9x cheaper per token.
IBM · OpenAI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while o3-mini is better at 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, IFEval, MMLU). o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is roughly 3.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
o3-mini also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 3.9x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose o3-mini
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while o3-mini is better at 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, IFEval, MMLU).
o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 2.2x cheaper than o3-mini ($1.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 8.8x cheaper than o3-mini ($4.40/1M tokens).
In conclusion, o3-mini is more expensive than Granite 3.3 8B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
o3-mini accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Granite 3.3 8B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. o3-mini can generate longer responses up to 100,000 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 o3-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
o3-mini
License
Usage and distribution terms
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while o3-mini uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct was released on 2025-04-16, while o3-mini was released on 2025-01-30.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is 3 months newer than o3-mini.
Apr 16, 2025
1.4 years ago
2mo newerJan 30, 2025
1.6 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has a knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while o3-mini has a cutoff of 2023-09-30.
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 o3-mini (2023-09-30).
Apr 2024
7 mo newerSep 2023
Provider Availability
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is available from Replicate. o3-mini is available from Azure, OpenAI.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
o3-mini
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and o3-mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs o3-mini.