Granite 4.2 8B vs Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 8B by IBM or Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) by SpaceXAI? 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
Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) scores 2.9 points higher (14.0 vs 11.1) but costs 4.7× as much to run the benchmark ($250 vs $53.1; both mid-range class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) 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 (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.1 | 14.0 | +26.1% Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoni… is 26.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $53.07 | $250.37 | +371.8% Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoni… is 4.7× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 63.67s | 5.86s | −90.8% Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoni… is 90.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.06 / $0.25 | $1.25 / $2.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) vs Granite 4.2 8B: 26.1% more intelligence, 371.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 90.8% 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 (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Granite 4.2 8BGrok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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