Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) vs Granite 4.2 30B
Which is better for the money: Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) 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
Granite 4.2 30B scores 3.8 points higher (12.7 vs 8.9) but costs 7.5× as much to run the benchmark ($111 vs $14.7; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Granite 4.2 30B when you need intelligence above 8.9, and Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) when 8.9 is enough.
| Metric | Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) | Granite 4.2 30B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 8.9 | 12.7 | +42.7% Granite 4.2 30B is 42.7% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $14.68 | $110.83 | +655.0% Granite 4.2 30B is 7.5× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 57.75s | 36.08s | −37.5% Granite 4.2 30B is 37.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.02 / $0.10 | $0.16 / $0.65 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Granite 4.2 30B vs Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning): 42.7% more intelligence, 655.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 37.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- Granite 4.2 30B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning)Granite 4.2 30BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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