Granite 4.2 8B vs Grok 4.3 (High)
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 8B by IBM or Grok 4.3 (High) by SpaceXAI? 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
Grok 4.3 (High) scores 13.8 points higher (24.9 vs 11.1) but costs 6.8× as much to run the benchmark ($363 vs $53.1; both mid-range class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Grok 4.3 (High) when you need intelligence above 11.1, and Granite 4.2 8B when 11.1 is enough.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 8B | Grok 4.3 (High) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.1 | 24.9 | +124.3% Grok 4.3 (High) is 2.2× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $53.07 | $363.24 | +584.5% Grok 4.3 (High) is 6.8× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 46.99s | 27.84s | −40.8% Grok 4.3 (High) is 40.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.06 / $0.25 | $1.25 / $2.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Grok 4.3 (High) vs Granite 4.2 8B: 124.3% more intelligence, 584.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 40.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Granite 4.2 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (High) scores 32.90 for $47.9.
- Grok 4.3 (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Granite 4.2 8BGrok 4.3 (High)Today'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-4-2-8b/grok-4-3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/granite-4-2-8b/grok-4-3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill