Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs Granite 4.2 8B
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.5 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 3.5 Flash-Lite scores 11.1 points higher (22.2 vs 11.1) but costs 6.9× as much to run the benchmark ($366 vs $53.1; both mid-range class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite when you need intelligence above 11.1, and Granite 4.2 8B when 11.1 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Granite 4.2 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 22.2 | 11.1 | −50.0% Granite 4.2 8B is 50.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $365.63 | $53.07 | −85.5% Granite 4.2 8B is 85.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 8.60s | 39.25s | +356.4% Granite 4.2 8B is 356.4% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $2.50 | $0.06 / $0.25 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Granite 4.2 8B vs Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: 50.0% less intelligence, 85.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 356.4% 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 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (High) scores 32.90 for $47.9.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGranite 4.2 8BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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