Model comparison
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct vs Mistral Small 3
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct is the stronger model overall, scoring 32.4 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 12 shared benchmarks.
Mistral AISummary
- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 3.1 8b Instruct scores higher in 4 categories and Mistral Small 3 in 4 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Granite 3.1 8b Instruct leads 33.0 to 16.3.
Side by side
| Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Mistral AI |
| Noometry Index | 32.4 | 31.2 |
| Released | — | 2025-01-30 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | — | 33K |
| Max output | — | 16K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $0.08 |
| Results tracked | 13 | 24 |
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Category by category
Coding Mistral Small 3 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 34.5 (#233), Mistral Small 3: 36.5 (#207)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1186 | 1246 |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | — | 45.3% |
| BigCodeBench Complete | — | 50.4% |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 24.1 (#120), Mistral Small 3: —
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 27.1% | — |
Reasoning Granite 3.1 8b Instruct leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 22.1 (#207), Mistral Small 3: 18.9 (#273)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1145 | 1233 |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 0% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 127.07 |
Math Granite 3.1 8b Instruct leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 33.0 (#209), Mistral Small 3: 16.3 (#295)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1152 | 1240 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 6.7% |
Knowledge Granite 3.1 8b Instruct leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 31.1 (#220), Mistral Small 3: 25.1 (#263)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1142 | 1202 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 47.3% |
| Confabulations | — | 25.2% |
Multilingual Mistral Small 3 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 30.9 (#260), Mistral Small 3: 37.3 (#236)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1099 | 1198 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1145 | 1204 |
| LMArena Russian | 1092 | 1216 |
| LMArena French | — | 1203 |
| LMArena German | — | 1211 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1111 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1188 |
Instruction Following Mistral Small 3 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 58.6 (#259), Mistral Small 3: 63.7 (#229)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1131 | 1214 |
Long Context Mistral Small 3 leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.2 (#241), Mistral Small 3: 37.8 (#211)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1162 | 1246 |
Writing & Preference Granite 3.1 8b Instruct leads
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct: 35.5 (#266), Mistral Small 3: 32.2 (#280)
| Benchmark | Granite 3.1 8b Instruct | Mistral Small 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1150 | 1234 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1129 | 1195 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1108 | 1217 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | — | 707 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 3.1 8b Instruct better than Mistral Small 3?
Granite 3.1 8b Instruct is the stronger model overall, scoring 32.4 to 31.2 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 3.1 8b Instruct or Mistral Small 3 better for coding?
Mistral Small 3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 36.5 versus 34.5 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Granite 3.1 8b Instruct and Mistral Small 3 share?
12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 3.1 8b Instruct has 13 scored results on Noometry and Mistral Small 3 has 24.