Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Granite 4.2 3B
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite by Google or Granite 4.2 3B 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
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite scores 6.5 points higher (15.6 vs 9.1) but costs 10× as much to run the benchmark ($156 vs $14.9; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite when you need intelligence above 9.1, and Granite 4.2 3B when 9.1 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Granite 4.2 3B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 15.6 | 9.1 | −41.7% Granite 4.2 3B is 41.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $155.87 | $14.91 | −90.4% Granite 4.2 3B is 90.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.08s | 49.98s | +722.0% Granite 4.2 3B is 722.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.25 / $1.50 | $0.03 / $0.12 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Granite 4.2 3B vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: 41.7% less intelligence, 90.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 722.0% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
- Granite 4.2 3B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGranite 4.2 3BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview/granite-4-2-3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview/granite-4-2-3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill