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IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Grok-3 Mini

Grok-3 Mini leads the LLM Stats Score 31.7 to 15.6.

IBM · xAI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Grok-3 Mini leads the overall LLM Stats Score 31.7 to 15.6, ranking #98 overall.

In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Grok-3 Mini 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 3B

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Grok-3 Mini

  • overall performance matters — it scores 31.7 and ranks #98 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B
IBM
Grok-3 Mini
xAI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
15.6
#213
31.7
#98
Reasoning
12.0
#234
31.3
#98
Coding
-6.7
#247
18.9
#98
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 2
2 of 2
Input price
— / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.50 / M
Context window
—
128,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Grok-3 Mini
Math
13.7#216
28.5#85
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

13 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 3B · 4 for Grok-3 Mini

2 shared

IBM Granite 4.2 3B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-3 Mini is better at 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA).

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok-3 Mini specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Grok-3 Mini specifies output context (8,000 tokens).

IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Grok-3 Mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas IBM Granite 4.2 3B does not.

Grok-3 Mini can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Grok-3 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Grok-3 Mini uses a proprietary license.

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

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Grok-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

IBM Granite 4.2 3B was released on 2026-08-25, while Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is 18 months newer than Grok-3 Mini.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Aug 25, 2026

5 days ago

1.5yr newer
Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.5 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while IBM Granite 4.2 3B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok-3 Mini's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without IBM Granite 4.2 3B's cutoff date.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

—

Grok-3 Mini

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 3B and Grok-3 Mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B
✓ Preferred
Grok-3 Mini
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Grok-3 Mini.

Which is better, IBM Granite 4.2 3B or Grok-3 Mini?

Grok-3 Mini leads the LLM Stats Score 31.7 to 15.6. IBM Granite 4.2 3B is made by IBM and Grok-3 Mini is made by xAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does IBM Granite 4.2 3B compare to Grok-3 Mini in benchmarks?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B scores AIME 2025: 78.3%, IFBench: 74.3%, LiveCodeBench v6: 69.7%, MMLU-Pro: 67.8%, RULER 64k: 67.5%. Grok-3 Mini scores AIME 2024: 95.8%, AIME 2025: 90.8%, GPQA: 84.0%, LiveCodeBench: 80.4%.

What are the context window sizes for IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Grok-3 Mini?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B supports an unknown number of tokens and Grok-3 Mini supports 128K 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 3B and Grok-3 Mini?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (15.6 vs 31.7), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Grok-3 Mini?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is developed by IBM and Grok-3 Mini is developed by xAI.

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