Granite 4.2 30B vs Ring-2.6-1T
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 30B by IBM or Ring-2.6-1T by InclusionAI? 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
Ring-2.6-1T scores 3.9 points higher (16.6 vs 12.7) but costs 5.2× as much to run the benchmark ($576 vs $111; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Ring-2.6-1T when you need intelligence above 12.7, and Granite 4.2 30B when 12.7 is enough.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 30B | Ring-2.6-1T | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 12.7 | 16.6 | +30.7% Ring-2.6-1T is 30.7% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $110.83 | $575.60 | +419.4% Ring-2.6-1T is 5.2× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 57.71s | 24.15s | −58.2% Ring-2.6-1T is 58.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.16 / $0.65 | $0.30 / $2.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
Ring-2.6-1T vs Granite 4.2 30B: 30.7% more intelligence, 419.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 58.2% 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.
- Ring-2.6-1T is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
Granite 4.2 30BRing-2.6-1TToday'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/ring-2-6-1t · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/granite-4-2-30b/ring-2-6-1t?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill