Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) vs Granite 4.2 30B
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) by Anthropic or Granite 4.2 30B by IBM? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) scores 36.9 points higher (49.6 vs 12.7) but costs 101× as much to run the benchmark ($11161 vs $111; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) when you need intelligence above 12.7, and Granite 4.2 30B when 12.7 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) | Granite 4.2 30B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.6 | 12.7 | −74.4% Granite 4.2 30B is 74.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $11,160.86 | $110.83 | −99.0% Granite 4.2 30B is 99.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 85.62s | 55.20s | −35.5% Granite 4.2 30B is 35.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $0.16 / $0.65 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Granite 4.2 30B vs Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback): 74.4% less intelligence, 99.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 35.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 57.60 for $8708.
- Granite 4.2 30B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback)Granite 4.2 30BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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