Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs Granite 4.2 30B
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite 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 3.5 Flash-Lite scores 9.5 points higher (22.2 vs 12.7) but costs 3.3× as much to run the benchmark ($366 vs $111; both mid-range class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite when you need intelligence above 12.7, and Granite 4.2 30B when 12.7 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Granite 4.2 30B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 22.2 | 12.7 | −42.8% Granite 4.2 30B is 42.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $365.63 | $110.83 | −69.7% Granite 4.2 30B is 69.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 9.59s | 54.96s | +473.1% Granite 4.2 30B is 473.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $2.50 | $0.16 / $0.65 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Granite 4.2 30B vs Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: 42.8% less intelligence, 69.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 473.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- Granite 4.2 30B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGranite 4.2 30BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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