Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs Granite 4.2 8B
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite by Google or Granite 4.2 8B 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
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite scores 4.5 points higher (15.6 vs 11.1) but costs 2.9× as much to run the benchmark ($156 vs $53.1; both mid-range class). Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Granite 4.2 8B.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | Granite 4.2 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 15.6 | 11.1 | −28.8% Granite 4.2 8B is 28.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $155.87 | $53.07 | −66.0% Granite 4.2 8B is 66.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.15s | 39.25s | +538.2% Granite 4.2 8B is 538.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.25 / $1.50 | $0.06 / $0.25 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Granite 4.2 8B vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: 28.8% less intelligence, 66.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 538.2% 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 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (High) scores 32.90 for $47.9.
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGranite 4.2 8BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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