IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
IBM Granite 4.2 30B leads the LLM Stats Score 24.0 to 4.5.
IBM · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
IBM Granite 4.2 30B leads the overall LLM Stats Score 24.0 to 4.5, ranking #157 overall.
In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, IBM Granite 4.2 30B wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose IBM Granite 4.2 30B
- overall performance matters — it scores 24.0 and ranks #157 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
Choose Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
- you want predictable pricing at $0.07/M input and $0.14/M output
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
18 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 30B · 8 for Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct
IBM Granite 4.2 30B outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro), while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.
IBM Granite 4.2 30B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
IBM Granite 4.2 30B has 6.0B more parameters than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct, making it 25.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct specifies input context (32,000 tokens). Only Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct specifies output context (32,000 tokens).
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
IBM Granite 4.2 30B was released on 2026-08-25, while Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct was released on 2025-01-30.
IBM Granite 4.2 30B is 19 months newer than Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.
Aug 25, 2026
1 weeks ago
1.6yr newerJan 30, 2025
1.6 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-10-01, while IBM Granite 4.2 30B's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct's training data extends to 2023-10-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without IBM Granite 4.2 30B's cutoff date.
—
Oct 2023
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs Mistral Small 3 24B Instruct.