IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base
Comparing IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
IBM · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.
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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base
- you are already invested in the Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team ecosystem
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
18 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 30B · 0 for Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base
IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Basedon'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
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base has 50.0B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 30B, making it 166.7% larger.
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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base was released on 2025-09-10.
IBM Granite 4.2 30B is 12 months newer than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base.
Aug 25, 2026
6 days ago
11mo newerSep 10, 2025
11 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base.