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IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Mistral NeMo Instruct

IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads the LLM Stats Score 15.6 to -4.9.

IBM · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads the overall LLM Stats Score 15.6 to -4.9, ranking #213 overall.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose IBM Granite 4.2 3B

  • overall performance matters — it scores 15.6 and ranks #213 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Choose Mistral NeMo Instruct

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

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B
IBM
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Mistral AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
15.6
#213
-4.9
#338
Reasoning
12.0
#234
-5.1
#330
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
$0.15 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.15 / M
Context window
—
128,000

Individual benchmarks

13 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 3B · 8 for Mistral NeMo Instruct

No common benchmarks found

IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Mistral NeMo Instructdon'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

9.0B diff

Mistral NeMo Instruct has 9.0B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 3B, making it 300.0% larger.

IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
3.0Bparameters
Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
12.0Bparameters
3.0B
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
12.0B
Mistral NeMo Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Mistral NeMo Instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Mistral NeMo Instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mistral AI
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Tue Sep 01 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 3B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Mistral NeMo Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

IBM Granite 4.2 3B was released on 2026-08-25, while Mistral NeMo Instruct was released on 2024-07-18.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is 26 months newer than Mistral NeMo Instruct.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Aug 25, 2026

6 days ago

2.1yr newer
Mistral NeMo Instruct

Jul 18, 2024

2.1 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

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 Mistral NeMo Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B
✓ Preferred
Mistral NeMo Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Mistral NeMo Instruct.

Which is better, IBM Granite 4.2 3B or Mistral NeMo Instruct?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads the LLM Stats Score 15.6 to -4.9. IBM Granite 4.2 3B is made by IBM and Mistral NeMo Instruct is made by Mistral AI. 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 Mistral NeMo Instruct 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%. Mistral NeMo Instruct scores HellaSwag: 83.5%, Winogrande: 76.8%, TriviaQA: 73.8%, CommonSenseQA: 70.4%, MMLU: 68.0%.

What are the context window sizes for IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Mistral NeMo Instruct?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B supports an unknown number of tokens and Mistral NeMo Instruct 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 Mistral NeMo Instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (15.6 vs -4.9). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Mistral NeMo Instruct?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is developed by IBM and Mistral NeMo Instruct is developed by Mistral AI.

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