Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview vs Granite 4.2 8B
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview by Google or Granite 4.2 8B by IBM? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview scores 18.6 points higher (29.7 vs 11.1) but costs 36× as much to run the benchmark ($1935 vs $53.1; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when you need intelligence above 11.1, and Granite 4.2 8B when 11.1 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview | Granite 4.2 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 29.7 | 11.1 | −62.6% Granite 4.2 8B is 62.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,935.39 | $53.07 | −97.3% Granite 4.2 8B is 97.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 25.04s | 46.99s | +87.7% Granite 4.2 8B is 87.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $0.06 / $0.25 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Granite 4.2 8B vs Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview: 62.6% less intelligence, 97.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 87.7% 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 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (High) scores 32.90 for $47.9.
Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewGranite 4.2 8BToday'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-4-2-8b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-1-pro-preview/granite-4-2-8b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill