BenchLeader

Granite 4.2 30B

Granite 4.2 30B is an IBM open-weights reasoning model, released 25 Aug 2026. Its best configuration ranks #418 of 785 on the BenchLeader Index at 48.7 ±3.3, in the lower half. The ± is the point: 297 other configurations score within that range, so they and this one cannot be told apart on quality alone — price and speed are what separate them. It scores highest in knowledge (56) and lowest in agents & tools (42). At $0.283 per million tokens blended it is cheaper than most ranked models. Output speed of 99 tokens per second puts it faster than most, with a first answer in 20.9 s. Last measured 22 Oct 2026.

Blended price
$0.283/M
$0.160 in · $0.650 out
Output speed
99 tok/s
measured by Artificial Analysis
First answer
21 s
Context
131k
Full answer
26 s
median, reasoning included
Cost per run
$0.072
one full Intelligence Index run
Released
25 Aug 2026
How it scores by categoryDashed line = average model (50). One step of 15 = one standard deviation.
  1. Overall index49
  2. Reasoning45
  3. Coding52
  4. Agents & tools42
  5. Knowledge56
  6. Human preference50
  7. Long context49
  8. Composite44

Versions

IBM has shipped 2 models under this name. Each is ranked on its own results; a newer version often has fewer results so far, which holds its index nearer the average until more arrive.

ModelReleasedIndexRank
Granite 4.2 30Bthis page25 Aug 202648.7#418
Granite 4.1 30B29 Apr 202639.8#673

How its index has moved

9 Sept 2026 to 21 Oct 2026
455055

The index is recomputed from scratch every day, so a line moves when a new benchmark result lands, when a publisher revises a score, or when the models it is normalised against change. Early movement usually means the score is still settling.

Benchmark results

See all LLM benchmarks. One column per reasoning effort. Rank is among every configuration of every model on that benchmark. Hover a score for the run it came from.

Metadata

Benchmarknot statedSourceTrend
AA Openness Indexnot in index72.2#21Artificial Analysis

Reasoning

Coding

Benchmarknot statedSourceTrend
Arena Coding1400#195Arena (LMArena)
SciCode (AA)not in index37.9%#190Artificial Analysis
Terminal-Bench 4.0 (AA)not in index0.0%#152Artificial Analysis
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (AA)not in index26.6%#164Artificial Analysis

Agents & tools

Benchmarknot statedSourceTrend
GDPval-AA v2.1not in index3.7%#117Artificial Analysis
τ³-Banking (AA)14.4%#122Artificial Analysis
AutomationBenchnot in index1.5%#187Artificial Analysis
GDP.pdf (AA)not in index1.8%#192Artificial Analysis
AA-Briefcase v1.1not in index394#55Artificial Analysis

Knowledge

Instruction following

Benchmarknot statedSourceTrend
Arena Instruction Followingnot in index1339#200Arena (LMArena)

Human preference

Benchmarknot statedSourceTrend
Arena Text1340#214Arena (LMArena)
Arena Creative Writingnot in index1266#252Arena (LMArena)
Arena Multi-turnnot in index1320#226Arena (LMArena)
Arena Longer Queriesnot in index1347#204Arena (LMArena)

Long context

Benchmarknot statedSourceTrend
AA-LCR49.0%#328Artificial Analysis

Composite

Benchmarknot statedSourceTrend
AA Intelligence Index v4.3.212.7#327Artificial Analysis

What a task costs

Estimates from list price, output speed and time to first answer for the best configuration. “With caching” assumes three-quarters of the input is served from the prompt cache. Reasoning tokens are not modelled.

WorkloadTokens in / outCostWith cachingTime
Chat reply400 / 300$0.0003–23.9 s
Summarize a 30-page report12,000 / 600$0.0023–26.9 s
Code edit6,000 / 1,500$0.0019–36.0 s
Agentic coding session60,000 / 4,000$0.012–1.0 min
Structured extraction2,000 / 200$0.0005–22.9 s

More from IBM

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See also

Questions people ask

What are Granite 4.2 30B's benchmark scores?
As of 24 Oct 2026, Granite 4.2 30B scores 48.7 ±3.3 on the BenchLeader Index, strongest in knowledge (56) and weakest in agents & tools (42). That rests on 8 independent benchmark results, and every score on this page links to its publisher.
How does Granite 4.2 30B rank?
Granite 4.2 30B is #418 of 785 ranked configurations on 24 Oct 2026. 297 other configurations score within its margin, so the exact position matters less than the band. The leader is Claude Opus 5.5 (max effort) at 72.6.
How much does Granite 4.2 30B cost per 1M tokens?
As of 24 Oct 2026, Granite 4.2 30B costs $0.160 per 1M input tokens and $0.650 per 1M output tokens, $0.283 blended (three input tokens per output token).
When was Granite 4.2 30B released?
IBM released Granite 4.2 30B on 25 Aug 2026.

Data as of 24 Oct 2026. Compare with another model.

Cite as: BenchLeader, “Granite 4.2 30B: benchmarks, pricing, speed and rank”, data as of 24 Oct 2026, https://www.benchleader.com/models/granite-4-2-30b.