AI model comparison
Granite 4.2 8B vs Gemma 4 31B
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
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
- $0.25
- Context
- 131K
Gemma 4 31B
Gemma 4 31B Instruct is Google DeepMind's 30.7B dense multimodal model supporting text and image input with text output.
- Input / 1M
- $0.09
- Output / 1M
- $0.34
- Context
- 262K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Granite 4.2 8B
1.4x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Gemma 4 31B
14.7 vs 11.1 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Gemma 4 31B
262K vs 131K tokens
Newer release
Granite 4.2 8B
Released August 31, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Granite 4.2 8B11.1Gemma 4 31B14.7Coding index
Granite 4.2 8B22.4Gemma 4 31B43.4Agentic index
Granite 4.2 8B1.3Gemma 4 31B4.2Pricing
Granite 4.2 8B vs Gemma 4 31B API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 8B | Gemma 4 31B |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.06 | $0.09 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.25 | $0.34 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.02 | $0.05 |
| 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
Granite 4.2 8B$0.25Gemma 4 31B$0.35Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Granite 4.2 8B$2.80$1.45 cachedGemma 4 31B$4.06$2.86 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Granite 4.2 8B$9.50$2.75 cachedGemma 4 31B$14.18$8.18 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 8B | Gemma 4 31B |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 131K tokens | 262K tokens |
| Max output | 118K tokens | 16K tokens |
| Input types | Text | Image, Text, Video |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | High, Low, None | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | High | Not available |
| Release date | August 31, 2026 | April 2, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 8B | Gemma 4 31B |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
- Granite 4.2 8B vs gpt-oss-120b
- Granite 4.2 8B vs gpt-oss-20b
- Granite 4.2 8B vs GPT-5 Nano
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Mercury 2.5
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Qwen3 32B
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
- Granite 4.2 8B vs Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B
Gemma 4 31BView full model details- Gemma 4 31B vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
- Gemma 4 31B vs gpt-oss-120b
- Gemma 4 31B vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
- Gemma 4 31B vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
- Gemma 4 31B vs Gemma 4 26B A4B
- Gemma 4 31B vs GPT-5 Nano
- Gemma 4 31B vs Ling 3.0 Flash
- Gemma 4 31B vs DeepSeek V3.1
- Gemma 4 31B vs Mercury 2.5
- Gemma 4 31B vs Qwen3.5-9B
- Gemma 4 31B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
- Gemma 4 31B vs GLM 4.7 Flash
- Gemma 4 31B vs DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
- Gemma 4 31B vs Nemotron 3 Super
- Gemma 4 31B vs Step 3.5 Flash
- Gemma 4 31B vs DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus
- Gemma 4 31B vs Mercury 2
Our take
Granite 4.2 8B is 1.4x cheaper for a typical chat. Gemma 4 31B scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (14.7 vs 11.1). Gemma 4 31B has the larger context window (262K 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 Granite 4.2 8B or Gemma 4 31B 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 $0.25 per 1M output tokens, while Gemma 4 31B costs $0.09 per 1M input tokens and $0.34 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Granite 4.2 8B or Gemma 4 31B?
Gemma 4 31B supports up to 262K tokens of context, compared with 131K for Granite 4.2 8B.
Is Granite 4.2 8B smarter than Gemma 4 31B?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Granite 4.2 8B scores 11.1 and Gemma 4 31B scores 14.7, putting Gemma 4 31B ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Granite 4.2 8B and Gemma 4 31B at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Granite 4.2 8B and Gemma 4 31B answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Granite 4.2 8B and Gemma 4 31B at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.