Granite 4.2 8B vs MiniMax-M3.1-Flash
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 8B by IBM or MiniMax-M3.1-Flash by MiniMax? 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
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash scores 31.6 points higher (42.7 vs 11.1) but costs 5.3× as much to run the benchmark ($283 vs $53.1; both mid-range class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick MiniMax-M3.1-Flash when you need intelligence above 11.1, and Granite 4.2 8B when 11.1 is enough.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 8B | MiniMax-M3.1-Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.1 | 42.7 | +284.7% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 3.8× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $53.07 | $283.18 | +433.6% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 5.3× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 52.36s | 22.62s | −56.8% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 56.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.06 / $0.25 | $0.15 / $0.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash vs Granite 4.2 8B: 284.7% more intelligence, 433.6% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 56.8% 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.
- MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Granite 4.2 8BMiniMax-M3.1-FlashToday'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/minimax-m3-1-flash · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/granite-4-2-8b/minimax-m3-1-flash?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill