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IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 are closely matched at 24.0 and 19.4 on the LLM Stats Score.

IBM · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 24.0 and 19.4.

The models split the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models evenly.

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

Choose IBM Granite 4.2 30B

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Choose Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

  • you are already invested in the NVIDIA ecosystem

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B
IBM
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
NVIDIA
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
24.0
#156
19.4
#190
Reasoning
21.8
#165
19.1
#189
Coding
9.6
#159
12.6
#134
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 2
1 of 2
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Math
25.6#103
15.7#205
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

18 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 30B · 6 for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

2 shared

IBM Granite 4.2 30B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AIME 2025), while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.

Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

223.0B diff

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has 223.0B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 30B, making it 743.3% larger.

IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
30.0Bparameters
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
253.0Bparameters
30.0B
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
253.0B
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

License

Usage and distribution terms

IBM Granite 4.2 30B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 uses Llama 3.1 Community License.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

IBM Granite 4.2 30B was released on 2026-08-25, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 was released on 2025-04-07.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B is 17 months newer than Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B

Aug 25, 2026

6 days ago

1.4yr newer
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Apr 7, 2025

1.4 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-01, while IBM Granite 4.2 30B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1's training data extends to 2023-12-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without IBM Granite 4.2 30B's cutoff date.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B

—

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1.

Which is better, IBM Granite 4.2 30B or Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 24.0 and 19.4. IBM Granite 4.2 30B is made by IBM and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does IBM Granite 4.2 30B compare to Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 in benchmarks?

IBM Granite 4.2 30B scores RULER 64k: 90.0%, AIME 2025: 89.2%, HMMT25: 89.2%, RULER 128k: 81.4%, MMLU-Pro: 77.6%. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 scores MATH-500: 97.0%, IFEval: 89.5%, GPQA: 76.0%, BFCL v2: 74.1%, AIME 2025: 72.5%.

What are the main differences between IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (24.0 vs 19.4), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Llama 3.1 Community License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1?

IBM Granite 4.2 30B is developed by IBM and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is developed by NVIDIA.

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