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Granite 4.2 3B

Released Aug 25, 2026 see all recent releases

Decision reading
Granite 4.2 3B is tracked, but not publicly ranked yet. The profile exposes 9 sourced benchmark rows and leaves unsupported fields blank until a published record exists.

Data as of September 10, 2026 · How the score is built

Strongest published evidence

Published rows are visible, but no category has enough eligible evidence for a comparative rank.

Validate before choosing

9 published rows leave some tracked benchmark slots empty. No comparable first-party API token rate is published.

Decision snapshot

Each value carries a field reference instead of floating alone. Markers compare this model with the current ranked and priced catalog; they are not absolute quality thresholds.

Capability

Unranked

field median 56.2

Not eligible for a public rank

Price

Self-hosted; infrastructure cost varies

input median $1

No comparable first-party hosted token rate

Speed

Not measured

field median 86.5 tok/s

Time to first token not measured

Context

128Ktokens

field median 256,000

Maximum output length is tracked separately

How much of this is verified

Coverage is split by category so a strong number never hides a thin evidence base. Verified means the row is tied to a published source; provisional rows remain visible but separate.

  1. Agentic2/2 verified
  2. Coding2/2 verified
  3. ReasoningNot measured
  4. Knowledge2/2 verified
  5. Math2/2 verified
  6. MultilingualNot measured
  7. MultimodalNot measured
  8. Inst. Following1/1 verified
Verified sourceProvisionalNot measured

Spec sheet

Each documented value carries its source. Missing fields stay visible as not sourced or not published, rather than disappearing from the page.

API model ID
ibm-granite/granite-4.2-3bIBM Granite 4.2 3B model card
Maximum output
Not sourced yet
Knowledge cutoff
Not sourced yet
Input modalities
Not sourced yet
Output modalities
Not sourced yet
Parameters
Not sourced yet
Availability
IBM publishes the dense 3B reasoning checkpoint under Apache 2.0 on Hugging Face (BF16 plus FP8, MXFP4, NVFP4, GGUF, and MLX editions) with a native 128K context and an opt-in 512K extension.
Cloud regions
Not tracked yet
Lifecycle
Current
API capabilities
Tool calling, structured outputs, and batch support are not tracked yet
Prompt caching
Not documented in the pricing recordIBM Granite 4.2 3B model card
Self-host
Open weights available; hardware estimate not sourced
Rate limits
Not tracked yet

Deployment options

Self-host and provider-specific paths stay separate from benchmark evidence so operating constraints are visible before a score becomes the whole decision.

Published weights are available, but BenchLM does not yet have a sourced parameter and VRAM profile for this exact model. Hardware cost estimates stay unavailable until that sizing record is complete.

Estimate VRAM from known parameters

Category score record

Scores and ranks appear only where published evidence can be displayed. The table keeps the score, weight, cohort, and evidence state together.

Category scores, ranks, weighting, benchmark coverage, and evidence status
CategoryScore
AgenticWeight 22%2 benchmarksVerifiedScore pending
CodingRank Not rankedWeight 20%2 benchmarksVerified23.2
ReasoningWeight 17%0 benchmarksNot measuredNot measured
KnowledgeRank Not rankedWeight 12%2 benchmarksVerified33.7
MathWeight 5%2 benchmarksVerifiedScore pending
MultilingualWeight 7%0 benchmarksNot measuredNot measured
MultimodalWeight 12%0 benchmarksNot measuredNot measured
Inst. FollowingRank Not rankedWeight 5%1 benchmarkVerified75.3

Benchmark ledger

Coding opens by default. The marker compares each value with the best source-verified result in the catalog; provisional leaders do not set the reference. Expand the remaining categories for every published row.

Coding2 rows
Coding benchmark values, best verified comparison, weight, and source status
SciCodeScientific Code BenchmarkScore24.1%Versus best verified row

Best verified: Sakana Fugu · 60.1%

Gap36 behindWeightWeighted 10%
LiveCodeBench v6Score69.7%Versus best verified row

Best verified: Sakana Fugu-Ultra · 93.2%

Gap23.5 behindWeightDisplay only
Agentic2 rows
Agentic benchmark values, best verified comparison, weight, and source status
τ³-bench resultsτ³-Bench Tool-Agent-User EvaluationScore45.8%Versus best verified row

Best verified: Mercury 2.5 · 96.0%

Gap50.2 behindWeightDisplay only
BFCL v4Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard v4Score52.4%Versus best verified row

Best verified: BTL-3 · 88.5%

Gap36.1 behindWeightDisplay only
Knowledge2 rows
Knowledge benchmark values, best verified comparison, weight, and source status
MMLU-ProMassive Multitask Language Understanding ProfessionalScore67.8%Versus best verified row

Best verified: Qwen3.7 Max · 89.6%

Gap21.8 behindWeightWeighted 20%
GPQAGraduate-Level Google-Proof Q&AScore54.8%Versus best verified row

Best verified: GPT-6 Astra · 96%

Gap41.2 behindWeightWeighted 7%
Math2 rows
Math benchmark values, best verified comparison, weight, and source status
AIME 2025American Invitational Mathematics Examination 2025Score78.3%Versus best verified row

Best verified: MAI-Thinking-1 · 97%

Gap18.7 behindWeightDisplay only
HMMT Feb 2025Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament February 2025Score66.7%Versus best verified row

Best verified: Qwen3.6 Plus · 96.7%

Gap30 behindWeightDisplay only
Inst. Following1 row
Inst. Following benchmark values, best verified comparison, weight, and source status
IFBenchInstruction Following BenchmarkScore74.3%Versus best verified row

Best verified: MAI-Thinking-1 · 85%

Gap10.7 behindWeightWeighted 70%

Lineage

The sequence follows explicit supersedes links. A successor's displayed score stays at least 0.1 points above its predecessor; raw benchmark rows do not move. Scores and prices remain blank when the corresponding public row or first-party rate is unavailable.

  1. Aug 25, 2026 · you are here

    Granite 4.2 3B

    Not publicly ranked · Price not listed

3b-dense · 3B

How to read this profile

The visual layer above carries the decisions. These notes preserve the model, ranking, coverage, and family context behind the numbers.

We track Granite 4.2 3B, but the public leaderboard excludes this profile until enough non-generated benchmark coverage is available. Only published rows appear above.

Granite 4.2 3B is a open weight model with a 128K context window. It uses an explicit reasoning mode, which can improve complex problem solving while adding latency and token use.

IBM publishes the dense 3B reasoning checkpoint under Apache 2.0 on Hugging Face (BF16 plus FP8, MXFP4, NVFP4, GGUF, and MLX editions) with a native 128K context and an opt-in 512K extension.

Granite 4.2 3B sits in the Granite 4.2 family with Granite 4.2 8B, Granite 4.2 30B. 9 of 434 tracked benchmark slots currently have displayable evidence. Missing categories stay blank.

Frequently asked questions

How does Granite 4.2 3B perform overall in AI benchmarks?

Granite 4.2 3B has 9 source-displayable benchmark rows, but it does not qualify for a public overall rank. The available rows remain visible by category without being converted into a site-wide score. Missing evidence stays blank instead of being estimated from an earlier model.

Is Granite 4.2 3B good for knowledge and understanding?

Granite 4.2 3B has source-displayable benchmark coverage for knowledge and understanding, but the public category table does not assign it a rank there. The individual rows remain available for inspection. A missing category position means the evidence threshold was not met; it does not convert the model's unmeasured work into a zero.

Is Granite 4.2 3B good for coding and programming?

Granite 4.2 3B has source-displayable benchmark coverage for coding and programming, but the public category table does not assign it a rank there. The individual rows remain available for inspection. A missing category position means the evidence threshold was not met; it does not convert the model's unmeasured work into a zero.

Is Granite 4.2 3B good for mathematics?

Granite 4.2 3B has source-displayable benchmark coverage for mathematics, but the public category table does not assign it a rank there. The individual rows remain available for inspection. A missing category position means the evidence threshold was not met; it does not convert the model's unmeasured work into a zero.

Is Granite 4.2 3B good for agentic tool use and computer tasks?

Granite 4.2 3B has source-displayable benchmark coverage for agentic tool use and computer tasks, but the public category table does not assign it a rank there. The individual rows remain available for inspection. A missing category position means the evidence threshold was not met; it does not convert the model's unmeasured work into a zero.

Is Granite 4.2 3B good for instruction following?

Granite 4.2 3B has source-displayable benchmark coverage for instruction following, but the public category table does not assign it a rank there. The individual rows remain available for inspection. A missing category position means the evidence threshold was not met; it does not convert the model's unmeasured work into a zero.

Is Granite 4.2 3B open source?

Granite 4.2 3B is an open-weight model from IBM. Its weights can be downloaded for local or hosted deployment, subject to the published license. Open weight does not automatically mean open source: training data and training code may remain private, and commercial restrictions can still apply.

Which sibling models are related to Granite 4.2 3B?

Granite 4.2 3B belongs to the Granite 4.2 family. Related tracked variants include Granite 4.2 8B, Granite 4.2 30B. A sibling link indicates shared lineage or a documented configuration relationship; it does not mean the variants have identical pricing, context limits, benchmark evidence, or deployment behavior. Compare before switching.

Does Granite 4.2 3B have full benchmark coverage on BenchLM?

No. Granite 4.2 3B currently has 19 source-displayable rows across 434 tracked benchmark slots. The profile exposes published, non-generated evidence and leaves missing categories blank until an exact evaluation is available. Coverage describes how much was measured; it is not a penalty added to an individual benchmark result.

What is the context window size of Granite 4.2 3B?

Granite 4.2 3B has a documented context window of 128K. That figure is the maximum combined prompt and retained-conversation space reported for this exact model; it is not the maximum output length. The profile keeps output limits separate because providers often publish those limits independently.

Compare Granite 4.2 3B with every tracked model482 comparisons

Last updated September 10, 2026. Runtime fields remain blank until a sourced snapshot exists.

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