IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Llama 4 Maverick
IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Llama 4 Maverick are closely matched at 15.6 and 14.9 on the LLM Stats Score.
IBM · Meta · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Llama 4 Maverick are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 15.6 and 14.9.
In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Llama 4 Maverick 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
Choose Llama 4 Maverick
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
13 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 3B · 13 for Llama 4 Maverick
IBM Granite 4.2 3B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Llama 4 Maverick is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU-Pro).
Llama 4 Maverick significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Llama 4 Maverick has 397.0B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 3B, making it 13233.3% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Llama 4 Maverick specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens). Only Llama 4 Maverick specifies output context (1,000,000 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Llama 4 Maverick supports multimodal inputs, whereas IBM Granite 4.2 3B does not.
Llama 4 Maverick can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Llama 4 Maverick
License
Usage and distribution terms
IBM Granite 4.2 3B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Llama 4 Maverick uses Llama 4 Community License Agreement.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Llama 4 Community License Agreement
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
IBM Granite 4.2 3B was released on 2026-08-25, while Llama 4 Maverick was released on 2025-04-05.
IBM Granite 4.2 3B is 17 months newer than Llama 4 Maverick.
Aug 25, 2026
6 days ago
1.4yr newerApr 5, 2025
1.4 years 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 3B and Llama 4 Maverick side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Llama 4 Maverick.