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IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads the LLM Stats Score 15.6 to 3.1.

IBM · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads the overall LLM Stats Score 15.6 to 3.1, 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 Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.05/M input and $0.10/M output

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B
IBM
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Microsoft
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
15.6
#213
3.1
#295
Reasoning
12.0
#234
0.2
#301
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
$0.05 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.10 / M
Context window
—
128,000

Individual benchmarks

13 reported for IBM Granite 4.2 3B · 15 for Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

No common benchmarks found

IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Phi-4-multimodal-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

2.6B diff

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has 2.6B more parameters than IBM Granite 4.2 3B, making it 86.7% larger.

IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
3.0Bparameters
Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
5.6Bparameters
3.0B
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
5.6B
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Phi-4-multimodal-instruct specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Phi-4-multimodal-instruct specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

IBM
IBM Granite 4.2 3B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Microsoft
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Mon Aug 31 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct supports multimodal inputs, whereas IBM Granite 4.2 3B does not.

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct 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

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct uses MIT.

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

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

IBM Granite 4.2 3B was released on 2026-08-25, while Phi-4-multimodal-instruct was released on 2025-02-01.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is 19 months newer than Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

Aug 25, 2026

6 days ago

1.6yr newer
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Feb 1, 2025

1.6 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-06-01, while IBM Granite 4.2 3B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi-4-multimodal-instruct's training data extends to 2024-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without IBM Granite 4.2 3B's cutoff date.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B

—

Phi-4-multimodal-instruct

Jun 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 Phi-4-multimodal-instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

IBM Granite 4.2 3B
✓ Preferred
Phi-4-multimodal-instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about IBM Granite 4.2 3B vs Phi-4-multimodal-instruct.

Which is better, IBM Granite 4.2 3B or Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads the LLM Stats Score 15.6 to 3.1. IBM Granite 4.2 3B is made by IBM and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is made by Microsoft. 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 Phi-4-multimodal-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%. Phi-4-multimodal-instruct scores ScienceQA Visual: 97.5%, DocVQA: 93.2%, MMBench: 86.7%, POPE: 85.6%, OCRBench: 84.4%.

What are the context window sizes for IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B supports an unknown number of tokens and Phi-4-multimodal-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 Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (15.6 vs 3.1), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes IBM Granite 4.2 3B and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct?

IBM Granite 4.2 3B is developed by IBM and Phi-4-multimodal-instruct is developed by Microsoft.

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