Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) vs Granite 4.2 30B
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) by Google or Granite 4.2 30B by IBM? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) scores 27.1 points higher (39.8 vs 12.7) but costs 9.9× as much to run the benchmark ($1100 vs $111; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) when you need intelligence above 12.7, and Granite 4.2 30B when 12.7 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) | Granite 4.2 30B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.8 | 12.7 | −68.1% Granite 4.2 30B is 68.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,100.06 | $110.83 | −89.9% Granite 4.2 30B is 89.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | Not reported | 36.08s | — not comparable |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.75 / $3.75 | $0.16 / $0.65 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Granite 4.2 30B vs Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium): 68.1% less intelligence, 89.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and end-to-end time not fully reported.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) 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 3.8 Flash (Medium)Granite 4.2 30BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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