Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview vs Granite 4.2 30B
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview by Google 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
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview scores 17.0 points higher (29.7 vs 12.7) but costs 17× as much to run the benchmark ($1935 vs $111; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when you need intelligence above 12.7, and Granite 4.2 30B when 12.7 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview | Granite 4.2 30B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 29.7 | 12.7 | −57.2% Granite 4.2 30B is 57.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,935.39 | $110.83 | −94.3% Granite 4.2 30B is 94.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 25.04s | 54.96s | +119.5% Granite 4.2 30B is 119.5% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $0.16 / $0.65 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Granite 4.2 30B vs Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview: 57.2% less intelligence, 94.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 119.5% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Granite 4.2 30B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGranite 4.2 30BToday'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-pro-preview/granite-4-2-30b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-1-pro-preview/granite-4-2-30b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill