Model comparison
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct vs Grok 4.1
Grok 4.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.5 to 32.4 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 12 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 3.1 8b Instruct scores higher in 1 category and Grok 4.1 in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Grok 4.1 leads 62.4 to 35.5.
- Granite 3.1 8b Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | xAI |
| Noometry Index | 32.4 | 41.5 |
| Released | — | 2025-11-17 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | — | — |
| Max output | — | — |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | — |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | — |
| Results tracked | 13 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Too close to call
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 34.5 (#233), Grok 4.1: 33.7 (#253)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1186 | 1445 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1214 |
Agentic & Tool Use Grok 4.1 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 24.1 (#120), Grok 4.1: 34.1 (#49)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 27.1% | — |
| Cybench | — | 39% |
Reasoning Grok 4.1 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 22.1 (#207), Grok 4.1: 29.5 (#91)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1145 | 1435 |
Math Grok 4.1 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 33.0 (#209), Grok 4.1: 38.9 (#120)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1152 | 1422 |
Knowledge Grok 4.1 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 31.1 (#220), Grok 4.1: 39.5 (#133)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1142 | 1417 |
Multilingual Grok 4.1 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 30.9 (#260), Grok 4.1: 53.4 (#68)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1099 | 1425 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1145 | 1465 |
| LMArena Russian | 1092 | 1434 |
| LMArena French | — | 1448 |
| LMArena German | — | 1446 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1397 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1407 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1438 |
Instruction Following Grok 4.1 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 58.6 (#259), Grok 4.1: 73.8 (#111)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1131 | 1400 |
Long Context Grok 4.1 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.2 (#241), Grok 4.1: 43.2 (#100)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1162 | 1416 |
Writing & Preference Grok 4.1 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.5 (#266), Grok 4.1: 62.4 (#75)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Grok 4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1150 | 1437 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1129 | 1411 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1108 | 1437 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 3.1 8b Instruct better than Grok 4.1?
Grok 4.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.5 to 32.4 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 3.1 8b Instruct or Grok 4.1 better for coding?
They score almost the same on coding (34.5 vs 33.7); test both on your own repository before choosing.
How many benchmarks do Granite 3.1 8b Instruct and Grok 4.1 share?
12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.1 8b Instruct has 13 scored results on Noometry and Grok 4.1 has 19.