# DeepSeek V3 vs Granite 4.2 3B

> Side-by-side benchmark comparison for DeepSeek V3 and Granite 4.2 3B across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, multilingual, and math tasks.

- Canonical page: https://benchlm.ai/compare/deepseek-v3-vs-granite-4-2-3b
- Last updated: September 10, 2026

- Shared sourced benchmarks: 2
- HTML indexing: indexable
- Ranking lane: BenchAlign v5

## Quick Verdict

Evidence is too thin for a benchmark verdict: DeepSeek V3 and Granite 4.2 3B share only 2 sourced benchmark rows.

## Summary

- Only 2 shared sourced benchmark rows are available. That is not enough for a broad capability verdict, so this mirror does not name an overall winner.
- Granite 4.2 3B has the lower published output-token price.

## Model Snapshot

| Property | DeepSeek V3 | Granite 4.2 3B |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Creator | DeepSeek | IBM |
| Type | Open Weight | Open Weight |
| Reasoning | Non-Reasoning | Reasoning |
| Context | 128K | 128K |
| Independent public score (not head-to-head) | 41.49 | null |
| Benchmarks Covered | 6 | 9 |
| Pricing (input/output) | $0.27 / $1.10 | $0.00 / $0.00 |

## Category Breakdown

### Agentic

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- DeepSeek V3 public-lane score: 36.7 (Estimated · #130/152)
- Granite 4.2 3B public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Granite 4.2 3B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| τ³-bench results | Coming soon | 45.8% | Coming soon |
| BFCL v4 | Coming soon | 52.4% | Coming soon |

### Coding

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- DeepSeek V3 public-lane score: 39.3 (Estimated · #118/151)
- Granite 4.2 3B public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Granite 4.2 3B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| LiveCodeBench | 37.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench Verified | 42% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| LiveCodeBench v6 | Coming soon | 69.7% | Coming soon |
| SciCode | Coming soon | 24.1% | Coming soon |

### Reasoning

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- DeepSeek V3 public-lane score: 41.2 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)
- Granite 4.2 3B public-lane score: 37.7 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)

### Knowledge

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- DeepSeek V3 public-lane score: 39.3 (Estimated · #137/183)
- Granite 4.2 3B public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Granite 4.2 3B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| GPQA | 59.1% | 54.8% | DeepSeek V3 |
| MMLU-Pro | 75.9% | 67.8% | DeepSeek V3 |

### Instruction Following

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- DeepSeek V3 public-lane score: 39.9 (#104/123)
- Granite 4.2 3B public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Granite 4.2 3B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| IFEval | 86.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| IFBench | Coming soon | 74.3% | Coming soon |

### Mathematics

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- DeepSeek V3 public-lane score: 26.2 (Unranked · 1 rankable row)
- Granite 4.2 3B public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Granite 4.2 3B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) | 1.724% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| AIME 2025 | Coming soon | 78.3% | Coming soon |
| HMMT Feb 2025 | Coming soon | 66.7% | Coming soon |

## FAQ

### Is there enough evidence to pick between DeepSeek V3 and Granite 4.2 3B?

Not yet. The models share only 2 sourced benchmark rows, so this mirror reports the available measurements and metadata without naming a broad winner.

### What can I compare safely on this page?

Published pricing, context windows, model type, and individual shared benchmark rows are directly comparable. Independent overall scores and non-overlapping benchmark coverage are labeled separately and should not be read as a controlled head-to-head result.

## Related Comparisons

- [DeepSeek V3 vs Granite 4.2 8B](/compare/deepseek-v3-vs-granite-4-2-8b)
- [Granite 4.2 3B vs Granite 4.2 8B](/compare/granite-4-2-3b-vs-granite-4-2-8b)
- [DeepSeek V3 vs Granite 4.2 30B](/compare/deepseek-v3-vs-granite-4-2-30b)
- [Granite 4.2 3B vs Granite 4.2 30B](/compare/granite-4-2-30b-vs-granite-4-2-3b)

## Explore More

- [DeepSeek V3 profile](/models/deepseek-v3)
- [Granite 4.2 3B profile](/models/granite-4-2-3b)
- [Compare Pricing](/llm-pricing)
- [Alternative Finder](/tools/alternative-finder)
- [LLM Selector](/tools/llm-selector)
- [Overall Rankings](/best/overall)