Granite 4.2 30B vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 30B by IBM or Kimi K3.1 Pro by Kimi? 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
Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 42.4 points higher (55.1 vs 12.7) but costs 28× as much to run the benchmark ($3117 vs $111; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3.1 Pro when you need intelligence above 12.7, and Granite 4.2 30B when 12.7 is enough.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 30B | Kimi K3.1 Pro | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 12.7 | 55.1 | +333.9% Kimi K3.1 Pro is 4.3× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $110.83 | $3,117.31 | +2712.7% Kimi K3.1 Pro is 28× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 57.71s | 50.87s | −11.9% Kimi K3.1 Pro is 11.9% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.16 / $0.65 | $2.00 / $10.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Kimi K3.1 Pro vs Granite 4.2 30B: 333.9% more intelligence, 2712.7% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 11.9% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Granite 4.2 30B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
- Kimi K3.1 Pro is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
Granite 4.2 30BKimi K3.1 ProToday'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/granite-4-2-30b/kimi-k3-1-pro · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/granite-4-2-30b/kimi-k3-1-pro?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill