Model comparison

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Granite 4.2 3b

Gemini 3.8 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.8 to 39.4 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.

Gemini 3.8 Flash Google

61.8

Rank #11 Confirmed

Granite 4.2 3b IBM

39.4

Rank #169 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher in 7 categories and Granite 4.2 3b in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in reasoning, where Gemini 3.8 Flash leads 76.9 to 26.0.
  • Granite 4.2 3b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Gemini 3.8 Flash and Granite 4.2 3b specifications
Gemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
ProviderGoogleIBM
Noometry Index61.839.4
Released2026-09-02—
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1.05M—
Max output66K—
Input $ / M tokens$0.75—
Output $ / M tokens$3.75—
Results tracked5011

Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry

Category by category

Coding Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 59.2 (#15), Granite 4.2 3b: 40.0 (#151)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
LMArena Coding15101361
DeepSWE73.8%—
FrontierCode41.2%—
CursorBench39.6%—
LMArena WebDev1584—
FrontierSWE19.6%—
SciCode56.6%—
WeirdML84.8%—
ALE-Bench1,270—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 41.8 (#21), Granite 4.2 3b: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
APEX-Agents64.3%—
Remote Labor Index5.8%—
GDP.pdf23.4%—
Vending-Bench 25,094—

Reasoning Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 76.9 (#5), Granite 4.2 3b: 26.0 (#138)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
LMArena Hard Prompts15081306
ARC-AGI-289.2%—
NYT Connections (extended)97.4%—
ARC-AGI-198.5%—
CritPt18.3%—
Chess Puzzles61%—
Mystery Game Puzzles47%—
DTBench95.7%—
LMCA52.9%—
Surface Evolver Bench76.9%—
Epoch Capabilities Index156.71—

Math Not comparable

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 65.3 (#28), Granite 4.2 3b: —

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)68.4%—
FrontierMath Tier 422%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202598.9%—
ProofBench48%—
LMArena Math1528—

Knowledge Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 74.8 (#2), Granite 4.2 3b: 36.3 (#171)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
LMArena Expert15241315
GPQA Diamond95.4%—
Humanity's Last Exam44.5%—
SimpleQA Verified69.7%—

Multimodal Not comparable

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 40.7 (#45), Granite 4.2 3b: —

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
LMArena Vision1314—
Blueprint-Bench 238.6%—
Furniture Assembly31.7%—

Multilingual Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 58.0 (#5), Granite 4.2 3b: 42.1 (#198)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
LMArena Non-English14911268
LMArena Chinese15541269
LMArena Russian15151249
LMArena French1498—
LMArena German1493—
LMArena Japanese1502—
LMArena Korean1459—
LMArena Spanish1485—

Instruction Following Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 78.0 (#13), Granite 4.2 3b: 67.1 (#200)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
LMArena Instruction Following14901273

Long Context Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 46.3 (#24), Granite 4.2 3b: 39.2 (#185)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
LMArena Longer Query15081291

Writing & Preference Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 72.2 (#15), Granite 4.2 3b: 47.2 (#212)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashGranite 4.2 3b
LMArena Text14991293
LMArena Creative Writing14921205
LMArena Multi-Turn15011290
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1748—

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 3.8 Flash better than Granite 4.2 3b?

Gemini 3.8 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.8 to 39.4 on the Noometry Index.

Is Gemini 3.8 Flash or Granite 4.2 3b better for coding?

Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.2 versus 40.0 in the Noometry coding category.

How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.8 Flash and Granite 4.2 3b share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.8 Flash has 50 scored results on Noometry and Granite 4.2 3b has 11.

Related comparisons

Go deeper