GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) vs Granite 4.2 3B
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) by OpenAI or Granite 4.2 3B by IBM? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) scores 21.0 points higher (30.1 vs 9.1) but costs 30× as much to run the benchmark ($447 vs $14.9; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) when you need intelligence above 9.1, and Granite 4.2 3B when 9.1 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) | Granite 4.2 3B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.1 | 9.1 | −69.8% Granite 4.2 3B is 69.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $446.53 | $14.91 | −96.7% Granite 4.2 3B is 96.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.06s | 55.67s | +818.6% Granite 4.2 3B is 818.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $0.03 / $0.12 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Granite 4.2 3B vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium): 69.8% less intelligence, 96.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 818.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- Granite 4.2 3B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium)Granite 4.2 3BToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-terra-medium/granite-4-2-3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-terra-medium/granite-4-2-3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill