DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) vs Granite 4.2 30B
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) by DeepSeek 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
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) scores 21.6 points higher (34.3 vs 12.7) but costs 1.8× as much to run the benchmark ($200 vs $111; both mid-range class). Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Granite 4.2 30B.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) | Granite 4.2 30B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.3 | 12.7 | −63.0% Granite 4.2 30B is 63.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $199.63 | $110.83 | −44.5% Granite 4.2 30B is 44.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 17.94s | 51.51s | +187.1% Granite 4.2 30B is 187.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.14 / $0.28 | $0.16 / $0.65 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
Granite 4.2 30B vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max): 63.0% less intelligence, 44.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 187.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (Xhigh) scores 41.20 for $158.
- Granite 4.2 30B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max)Granite 4.2 30BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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