DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (Max) vs Granite 4.2 3B
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (Max) by DeepSeek or Granite 4.2 3B by IBM? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (Max) scores 21.3 points higher (30.4 vs 9.1) but costs 19× as much to run the benchmark ($277 vs $14.9; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (Max) when you need intelligence above 9.1, and Granite 4.2 3B when 9.1 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (Max) | Granite 4.2 3B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.4 | 9.1 | −70.1% Granite 4.2 3B is 70.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $277.30 | $14.91 | −94.6% Granite 4.2 3B is 94.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 48.87s | 35.30s | −27.8% Granite 4.2 3B is 27.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.43 / $0.87 | $0.03 / $0.12 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
Granite 4.2 3B vs DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (Max): 70.1% less intelligence, 94.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 27.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Granite 4.2 3B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (Max)Granite 4.2 3BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-pro-0424/granite-4-2-3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-pro-0424/granite-4-2-3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill