Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) vs Granite 4.2 8B
Which is better for the money: Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) 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
Granite 4.2 8B scores 2.2 points higher (11.1 vs 8.9) but costs 3.6× as much to run the benchmark ($53.1 vs $14.7; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Granite 4.2 8B 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 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 8.9 | 11.1 | +24.7% Granite 4.2 8B is 24.7% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $14.68 | $53.07 | +261.5% Granite 4.2 8B is 3.6× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 57.75s | 39.25s | −32.0% Granite 4.2 8B is 32.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.02 / $0.10 | $0.06 / $0.25 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
Granite 4.2 8B vs Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning): 24.7% more intelligence, 261.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 32.0% 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 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (High) scores 32.90 for $47.9.
Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning)Granite 4.2 8BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gemma-4-e4b/granite-4-2-8b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemma-4-e4b/granite-4-2-8b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill