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IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview vs IBM Granite 4.2 3B

IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads the LLM Stats Score 15.6 to -5.2.

IBM · IBM · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads the overall LLM Stats Score 15.6 to -5.2, ranking #213 overall.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview

  • you are already invested in the IBM ecosystem

Choose IBM Granite 4.2 3B

  • overall performance matters — it scores 15.6 and ranks #213 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview
IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
IBM
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
-5.2
#341
15.6
#213
Reasoning
-5.3
#331
12.0
#234
Coding
3.0
#207
-6.7
#247
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
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Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Math
-5.4#307
13.7#216
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

12 reported for IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview · 13 for IBM Granite 4.2 3B

No common benchmarks found

IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview and IBM Granite 4.2 3Bdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

4.0B diff

IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview has 4.0B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 3B, making it 133.3% larger.

IBM
IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview
7.0Bparameters
IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
3.0Bparameters
7.0B
IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview
3.0B
IBM Granite 4.2 3B

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

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

IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview

Apache 2.0

Open weights

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview was released on 2025-05-02, while IBM Granite 4.2 3B was released on 2026-08-25.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is 16 months newer than IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview.

IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview

May 2, 2025

1.3 years ago

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Aug 25, 2026

6 days ago

1.3yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview and IBM Granite 4.2 3B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview
✓ Preferred
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview vs IBM Granite 4.2 3B.

Which is better, IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview or IBM Granite 4.2 3B?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads the LLM Stats Score 15.6 to -5.2. IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview is made by IBM and IBM Granite 4.2 3B is made by IBM. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview compare to IBM Granite 4.2 3B in benchmarks?

IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview scores AttaQ: 86.1%, HumanEval: 82.4%, HumanEval+: 78.3%, GSM8k: 70.1%, IFEval: 63.0%. IBM Granite 4.2 3B scores AIME 2025: 78.3%, IFBench: 74.3%, LiveCodeBench v6: 69.7%, MMLU-Pro: 67.8%, RULER 64k: 67.5%.

What are the main differences between IBM Granite 4.0 Tiny Preview and IBM Granite 4.2 3B?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (-5.2 vs 15.6). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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