Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) vs Granite 4.2 30B
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) 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 3.8 Flash (High) scores 28.2 points higher (40.9 vs 12.7) but costs 15× as much to run the benchmark ($1623 vs $111; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) when you need intelligence above 12.7, and Granite 4.2 30B when 12.7 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) | Granite 4.2 30B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 40.9 | 12.7 | −68.9% Granite 4.2 30B is 68.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,622.73 | $110.83 | −93.2% Granite 4.2 30B is 93.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 30.91s | 51.51s | +66.6% Granite 4.2 30B is 66.6% slower |
| 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 (High): 68.9% less intelligence, 93.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 66.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) 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 (High)Granite 4.2 30BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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