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IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2

IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 are closely matched at 15.6 and 18.7 on the LLM Stats Score.

IBM · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 15.6 and 18.7.

The models split the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models evenly.

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 Nemotron Nano 9B v2

  • your work emphasizes coding — it leads those capability indexes

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B
IBM
Nemotron Nano 9B v2
NVIDIA
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
15.6
#213
18.7
#196
Reasoning
12.0
#234
17.4
#194
Coding
-6.7
#247
14.6
#120
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 2
1 of 2
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
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Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Nemotron Nano 9B v2
Math
13.7#216
16.5#195
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

13 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 3B · 6 for Nemotron Nano 9B v2

2 shared

IBM Granite 4.2 3B outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AIME 2025), while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.

Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

5.9B diff

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has 5.9B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 3B, making it 196.7% larger.

IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
3.0Bparameters
NVIDIA
Nemotron Nano 9B v2
8.9Bparameters
3.0B
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
8.9B
Nemotron Nano 9B v2

License

Usage and distribution terms

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 uses NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement .

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

Nemotron Nano 9B v2

NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

IBM Granite 4.2 3B was released on 2026-08-25, while Nemotron Nano 9B v2 was released on 2025-08-18.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is 12 months newer than Nemotron Nano 9B v2.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Aug 25, 2026

6 days ago

1.0yr newer
Nemotron Nano 9B v2

Aug 18, 2025

1.0 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-09-01, while IBM Granite 4.2 3B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Nemotron Nano 9B v2's training data extends to 2024-09-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without IBM Granite 4.2 3B's cutoff date.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

—

Nemotron Nano 9B v2

Sep 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 Nemotron Nano 9B v2 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B
✓ Preferred
Nemotron Nano 9B v2
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Nemotron Nano 9B v2.

Which is better, IBM Granite 4.2 3B or Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 15.6 and 18.7. IBM Granite 4.2 3B is made by IBM and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is made by NVIDIA. 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 Nemotron Nano 9B v2 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%. Nemotron Nano 9B v2 scores MATH-500: 97.8%, IFEval: 90.3%, AIME 2025: 72.1%, LiveCodeBench: 71.1%, BFCL_v3_MultiTurn: 66.9%.

What are the main differences between IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (15.6 vs 18.7), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement ). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is developed by IBM and Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is developed by NVIDIA.

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