Granite 4.2 8B vs Mistral Large 4 Preview
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 8B by IBM or Mistral Large 4 Preview by Mistral? 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
Mistral Large 4 Preview scores 27.3 points higher (38.4 vs 11.1) but costs 30× as much to run the benchmark ($1608 vs $53.1; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Mistral Large 4 Preview when you need intelligence above 11.1, and Granite 4.2 8B when 11.1 is enough.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 8B | Mistral Large 4 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.1 | 38.4 | +245.9% Mistral Large 4 Previ… is 3.5× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $53.07 | $1,607.86 | +2929.7% Mistral Large 4 Previ… is 30× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 52.08s | 24.31s | −53.3% Mistral Large 4 Previ… is 53.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.06 / $0.25 | $1.36 / $4.18 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Mistral Large 4 Preview vs Granite 4.2 8B: 245.9% more intelligence, 2929.7% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 53.3% 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.
- Mistral Large 4 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Granite 4.2 8BMistral Large 4 PreviewToday'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/mistral-large-4 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/granite-4-2-8b/mistral-large-4?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill