GPT-6 Astra (Medium) vs Granite 4.2 8B
Which is better for the money: GPT-6 Astra (Medium) by OpenAI 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
GPT-6 Astra (Medium) scores 38.5 points higher (49.6 vs 11.1) but costs 46× as much to run the benchmark ($2434 vs $53.1; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Medium) when you need intelligence above 11.1, and Granite 4.2 8B when 11.1 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-6 Astra (Medium) | Granite 4.2 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.6 | 11.1 | −77.6% Granite 4.2 8B is 77.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,434.12 | $53.07 | −97.8% Granite 4.2 8B is 97.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 14.48s | 39.25s | +171.1% Granite 4.2 8B is 171.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $0.06 / $0.25 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Granite 4.2 8B vs GPT-6 Astra (Medium): 77.6% less intelligence, 97.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 171.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
- Granite 4.2 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (High) scores 32.90 for $47.9.
GPT-6 Astra (Medium)Granite 4.2 8BToday'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-6-astra-medium/granite-4-2-8b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-astra-medium/granite-4-2-8b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill