Model comparison
Granite 4.2 30b vs Nova 2 Lite
Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.4 to 39.0 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. Granite 4.2 30b scores higher in 6 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 1 category; one gap is clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Nova 2 Lite leads 42.5 to 38.5.
- Granite 4.2 30b has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | IBM | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 41.4 | 39.0 |
| Released | — | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | — | 1M |
| Max output | — | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 11 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 40.4 (#127), Nova 2 Lite: 40.1 (#131)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1394 | 1386 |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Granite 4.2 30b: —, Nova 2 Lite: 23.9 (#114)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
Reasoning Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 26.7 (#114), Nova 2 Lite: 26.4 (#120)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1375 | 1364 |
Math Not comparable
Granite 4.2 30b: —, Nova 2 Lite: 34.8 (#154)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1359 |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Granite 4.2 30b: 38.5 (#134), Nova 2 Lite: 42.5 (#88)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1405 | 1360 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
Multilingual Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 47.4 (#146), Nova 2 Lite: 47.3 (#148)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1340 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1415 | 1364 |
| LMArena Russian | 1342 | 1343 |
| LMArena French | — | 1381 |
| LMArena German | — | 1343 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1273 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1284 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1372 |
Instruction Following Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 71.3 (#150), Nova 2 Lite: 70.7 (#156)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1346 | 1335 |
Long Context Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 41.4 (#135), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#145)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1359 | 1335 |
Writing & Preference Too close to call
Granite 4.2 30b: 54.3 (#147), Nova 2 Lite: 54.1 (#150)
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 30b | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1363 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1294 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1340 | 1338 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Granite 4.2 30b better than Nova 2 Lite?
Granite 4.2 30b is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.4 to 39.0 on the Noometry Index.
Is Granite 4.2 30b or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
They score almost the same on coding (40.4 vs 40.1); test both on your own repository before choosing.
How many benchmarks do Granite 4.2 30b and Nova 2 Lite share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. Granite 4.2 30b has 11 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.