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IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs QwQ-32B-Preview

IBM Granite 4.2 30B leads the LLM Stats Score 24.0 to 9.3.

IBM · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

IBM Granite 4.2 30B leads the overall LLM Stats Score 24.0 to 9.3, ranking #156 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, IBM Granite 4.2 30B wins 1; 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 #156 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Choose QwQ-32B-Preview

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.15/M input and $0.20/M output

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B
IBM
QwQ-32B-Preview
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
24.0
#156
9.3
#254
Reasoning
21.8
#165
9.6
#247
Coding
9.6
#159
4.6
#195
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 1
0 of 1
Input price
— / M
$0.15 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.20 / M
Context window
—
32,768

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
QwQ-32B-Preview
Math
25.6#103
9.2#245
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

18 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 30B · 4 for QwQ-32B-Preview

1 shared

IBM Granite 4.2 30B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while QwQ-32B-Preview is better at 0 benchmarks.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2.5B diff

QwQ-32B-Preview has 2.5B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 30B, making it 8.3% larger.

IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
30.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
QwQ-32B-Preview
32.5Bparameters
30.0B
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
32.5B
QwQ-32B-Preview

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only QwQ-32B-Preview specifies input context (32,768 tokens). Only QwQ-32B-Preview specifies output context (32,768 tokens).

IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 30B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
QwQ-32B-Preview
Input32,768 tokens
Output32,768 tokens
Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

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 4.2 30B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

QwQ-32B-Preview

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

IBM Granite 4.2 30B was released on 2026-08-25, while QwQ-32B-Preview was released on 2024-11-28.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B is 21 months newer than QwQ-32B-Preview.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B

Aug 25, 2026

5 days ago

1.7yr newer
QwQ-32B-Preview

Nov 28, 2024

1.8 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

QwQ-32B-Preview has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-28, while IBM Granite 4.2 30B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm QwQ-32B-Preview's training data extends to 2024-11-28, but cannot make a direct comparison without IBM Granite 4.2 30B's cutoff date.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B

—

QwQ-32B-Preview

Nov 2024

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 QwQ-32B-Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

IBM Granite 4.2 30B
✓ Preferred
QwQ-32B-Preview
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 30B vs QwQ-32B-Preview.

Which is better, IBM Granite 4.2 30B or QwQ-32B-Preview?

IBM Granite 4.2 30B leads the LLM Stats Score 24.0 to 9.3. IBM Granite 4.2 30B is made by IBM and QwQ-32B-Preview is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. 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 QwQ-32B-Preview 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%. QwQ-32B-Preview scores MATH-500: 90.6%, GPQA: 65.2%, AIME 2024: 50.0%, LiveCodeBench: 50.0%.

What are the context window sizes for IBM Granite 4.2 30B and QwQ-32B-Preview?

IBM Granite 4.2 30B supports an unknown number of tokens and QwQ-32B-Preview supports 33K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between IBM Granite 4.2 30B and QwQ-32B-Preview?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (24.0 vs 9.3). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes IBM Granite 4.2 30B and QwQ-32B-Preview?

IBM Granite 4.2 30B is developed by IBM and QwQ-32B-Preview is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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