Granite 4.2 8B vs Kimi K2.7 Code
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 8B by IBM or Kimi K2.7 Code by Kimi? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-09-10.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K2.7 Code scores 14.5 points higher (26.3 vs 11.8) but costs 19× as much to run the benchmark ($993 vs $53.1; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K2.7 Code when you need intelligence above 11.8, and Granite 4.2 8B when 11.8 is enough.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K2.7 Code | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.8 | 26.3 | +122.9% Kimi K2.7 Code is 2.2× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $53.07 | $992.88 | +1770.9% Kimi K2.7 Code is 19× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 26.12s | 57.94s | +121.8% Kimi K2.7 Code is 121.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.06 / $0.25 | $0.95 / $4.00 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Kimi K2.7 Code vs Granite 4.2 8B: 122.9% more intelligence, 1770.9% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 121.8% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Granite 4.2 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.5 scores 22.30 for $42.6.
- Kimi K2.7 Code is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GLM-5.3-Flash scores 41.90 for $280.
Granite 4.2 8BKimi K2.7 CodeToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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