gpt-oss-120b (High) vs Granite 4.2 3B
Which is better for the money: gpt-oss-120b (High) by OpenAI or Granite 4.2 3B by IBM? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
gpt-oss-120b (High) scores 2.5 points higher (11.6 vs 9.1) but costs 8.2× as much to run the benchmark ($123 vs $14.9; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick gpt-oss-120b (High) when you need intelligence above 9.1, and Granite 4.2 3B when 9.1 is enough.
| Metric | gpt-oss-120b (High) | Granite 4.2 3B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.6 | 9.1 | −21.6% Granite 4.2 3B is 21.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $122.71 | $14.91 | −87.8% Granite 4.2 3B is 87.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 11.29s | 49.98s | +342.7% Granite 4.2 3B is 342.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.15 / $0.60 | $0.03 / $0.12 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
Granite 4.2 3B vs gpt-oss-120b (High): 21.6% less intelligence, 87.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 342.7% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- gpt-oss-120b (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
- 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-oss-120b (High)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-oss-120b/granite-4-2-3b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-oss-120b/granite-4-2-3b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill