IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
IBM Granite 4.2 30B leads the LLM Stats Score 23.8 to 16.4. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is 1.1x cheaper per token.
IBM · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
IBM Granite 4.2 30B leads the overall LLM Stats Score 23.8 to 16.4, ranking #173 overall.
In the 6 individual benchmarks reported for both models, IBM Granite 4.2 30B wins 4; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
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 23.8 and ranks #173 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 6 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
Choose Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
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 · 50 for Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
IBM Granite 4.2 30B outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2025, Arena-Hard v2, HMMT25, LiveCodeBench v6), while Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro).
IBM Granite 4.2 30B shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, IBM Granite 4.2 30B ($0.16/1M tokens) is 1.1x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, IBM Granite 4.2 30B ($0.65/1M tokens) is 1.1x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct ($0.60/1M tokens).
In conclusion, IBM Granite 4.2 30B is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct has 1.0B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 30B, making it 3.3% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to IBM Granite 4.2 30B's 131,072 tokens. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while IBM Granite 4.2 30B is limited to 131,072 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas IBM Granite 4.2 30B does not.
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
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 VL 30B A3B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.
IBM Granite 4.2 30B is 11 months newer than Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.
Aug 25, 2026
4 weeks ago
11mo newerSep 22, 2025
1.0 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
IBM Granite 4.2 30B is available from DeepInfra. Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita.
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against IBM Granite 4.2 30B and Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct.