AI model comparison
Command A+ vs Granite 4.2 8B
Side by side comparison of Command A+ and Granite 4.2 8B on pricing, benchmark scores, context window, and more.
Command A+ is Cohere's flagship model for enterprise agentic workflows.
- Input / 1M
- $0.30
- Output / 1M
- $1.50
- Context
- 192K
Granite 4.2 8B is a dense reasoning model from IBM. It is suited for mathematics, code generation, multilingual dialogue, and agentic workflows that need multi-step reasoning.
- Input / 1M
- $0.06
- Output / 1M
- $0.15
- Context
- 131K
Comparing image generators? Compare image models
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Granite 4.2 8B
6.9x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Command A+
6.2 vs 5.1 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Command A+
192K vs 131K tokens
Newer release
Command A+
Released September 22, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Command A+6.2Granite 4.2 8B5.1Coding index
Command A+27.8Granite 4.2 8B22.4Agentic index
Command A+1Granite 4.2 8B1.3Pricing
Command A+ vs Granite 4.2 8B API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Command A+ | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.30 | $0.06 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $1.50 | $0.15 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.15 | $0.02 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Command A+$1.35Granite 4.2 8B$0.19Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Command A+$15$10.50 cachedGranite 4.2 8B$2.40$1.05 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Command A+$48$25.50 cachedGranite 4.2 8B$9.30$2.55 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Command A+ | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 192K tokens | 131K tokens |
| Max output | 64K tokens | 118K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text | Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | High, Low, None |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | High |
| Release date | September 22, 2026 | August 31, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Command A+ | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Granite 4.2 8BView full model details- Granite 4.2 8B vs Muse Glimmer 30B
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Mistral Small 4
- Granite 4.2 8B vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
- Granite 4.2 8B vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor
- Granite 4.2 8B vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Solar Mini 4
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Qwen3.7 Flash
Our take
Granite 4.2 8B is 6.9x cheaper for a typical chat. Command A+ scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (6.2 vs 5.1). Command A+ has the larger context window (192K vs 131K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Command A+ or Granite 4.2 8B cheaper?
Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Granite 4.2 8B costs $0.06 per 1M input tokens and $0.15 per 1M output tokens, while Command A+ costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.50 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Command A+ or Granite 4.2 8B?
Command A+ supports up to 192K tokens of context, compared with 131K for Granite 4.2 8B.
Is Command A+ smarter than Granite 4.2 8B?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Command A+ scores 6.2 and Granite 4.2 8B scores 5.1, putting Command A+ ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Command A+ and Granite 4.2 8B at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Command A+ and Granite 4.2 8B answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Command A+ and Granite 4.2 8B at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.