Model comparison

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Granite 3.1 2b Instruct

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.1 to 33.2 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 12 shared benchmarks.

Gemini 3.6 Flash Google

54.1

Rank #33 Confirmed

Granite 3.1 2b Instruct IBM

33.2

Rank #247 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher in 8 categories and Granite 3.1 2b Instruct in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in knowledge, where Gemini 3.6 Flash leads 67.8 to 30.8.
  • Granite 3.1 2b Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Gemini 3.6 Flash and Granite 3.1 2b Instruct specifications
Gemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
ProviderGoogleIBM
Noometry Index54.133.2
Released2026-07-21—
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1.05M—
Max output66K—
Input $ / M tokens$0.75—
Output $ / M tokens$3.75—
Results tracked4612

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Category by category

Coding Gemini 3.6 Flash leads

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 50.0 (#48), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 33.4 (#257)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
LMArena Coding14911149
DeepSWE46.7%—
FrontierCode34.4%—
LMArena WebDev1538—
SciCode52.7%—
WeirdML56.1%—
ALE-Bench715.52—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 32.3 (#65), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
APEX-Agents46.9%—
GDP.pdf14%—

Reasoning Gemini 3.6 Flash leads

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 58.8 (#22), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 22.0 (#209)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
LMArena Hard Prompts14851138
ARC-AGI-260.4%—
NYT Connections (extended)89%—
ARC-AGI-191.2%—
CritPt10.6%—
Chess Puzzles43%—
Mystery Game Puzzles30%—
DTBench95.5%—
LMCA44.9%—
Epoch Capabilities Index154.25—

Math Gemini 3.6 Flash leads

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 57.3 (#40), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 33.1 (#206)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
LMArena Math15051159
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)58.9%—
FrontierMath Tier 422%—
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions70.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202594.2%—
ProofBench36%—

Knowledge Gemini 3.6 Flash leads

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 67.8 (#8), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 30.8 (#224)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
LMArena Expert14881131
GPQA Diamond94.1%—
SimpleQA Verified66.2%—

Multimodal Not comparable

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 38.5 (#64), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: —

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
LMArena Vision1298—
Blueprint-Bench 231.2%—
Furniture Assembly23.3%—
LMArena Document1456—

Multilingual Gemini 3.6 Flash leads

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 56.5 (#19), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 29.1 (#269)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
LMArena Non-English14691068
LMArena Chinese15311139
LMArena Russian14871063
LMArena French1504—
LMArena German1478—
LMArena Japanese1476—
LMArena Korean1431—
LMArena Spanish1475—

Instruction Following Gemini 3.6 Flash leads

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 77.0 (#33), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 57.7 (#264)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
LMArena Instruction Following14661116

Long Context Gemini 3.6 Flash leads

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 45.1 (#50), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 35.0 (#244)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
LMArena Longer Query14741155

Writing & Preference Gemini 3.6 Flash leads

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 68.2 (#27), Granite 3.1 2b Instruct: 34.1 (#274)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashGranite 3.1 2b Instruct
LMArena Text14791127
LMArena Creative Writing14651116
LMArena Multi-Turn14811099
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1604—

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 3.6 Flash better than Granite 3.1 2b Instruct?

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.1 to 33.2 on the Noometry Index.

Is Gemini 3.6 Flash or Granite 3.1 2b Instruct better for coding?

Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.0 versus 33.4 in the Noometry coding category.

How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.6 Flash and Granite 3.1 2b Instruct share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.6 Flash has 46 scored results on Noometry and Granite 3.1 2b Instruct has 12.

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