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Granite 4.2 8B vs Mistral Medium 3.5

Mistral Medium 3.5 leads Granite 4.2 8B on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 14.2 to 11.1, and Granite 4.2 8B costs 37.5x less per output token ($0.20 vs $7.50 per million). Updated October 23, 2026; 27 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Granite 4.2 8B Replace Mistral Medium 3.5
Granite 4.2 8BIBM Granite
Coding
No data
Overall
No data
Output $/M
$0.20
0
Mistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI
Coding
25.5
Overall
37.3
Output $/M
$7.50
27
vs boards won of 27 shared

Granite 4.2 8B or Mistral Medium 3.5: which to pick

Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has a coding score, 25.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Granite 4.2 8B has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.

Pick Granite 4.2 8B for output tokens 37.5x cheaper ($0.20 vs $7.50 per million).

Model AGranite 4.2 8BIBM GraniteNot benchmarkedNo coding benchmarkNo cost per solved taskModel BMistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI25.5/1003 independent benchmarks$6.02 per solved task
Shared results
27
Granite 4.2 8B only
0
Mistral Medium 3.5 only
55
Like-for-like categories
6 of 9

Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.

Which one for your work

Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.

At a glance

Coding index
Granite 4.2 8B not benchmarked, Mistral Medium 3.5 25.5 from 3 benchmarks.
Widest category
General, 18.5 points apart on average over 12 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
AA Coding Index: Granite 4.2 8B 22.4 against Mistral Medium 3.5 46.9, 24.5 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Granite 4.2 8B $0.20 against Mistral Medium 3.5 $7.50 per million output tokens, 37.5x apart.
Context window
Granite 4.2 8B takes 131K tokens, Mistral Medium 3.5 262K.

Benchmark by benchmark

First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryGranite 4.2 8BBarsMistral Medium 3.5Ties
Coding04
Intelligence01
Agentic work01
Reasoning05
Knowledge04
General012
All shared boards027
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index04
Coding benchmarks for Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5Leader
LMArena WebDevNot measured1264Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
AA Coding Index22.446.9Mistral Medium 3.5
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)Not measured66.4%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)Not measured2.9%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Code migration (Vals AI)Not measured5.1%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)Not measured39.0%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
SciCode31.5%40.2%Mistral Medium 3.5
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)Not measured33.3%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
ALE-BenchNot measured764.0Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: coding13781461Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: software and IT13661458Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena WebDev: ReactNot measured1254Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena WebDev: HTMLNot measured1309Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 30 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Intelligence benchmarks for Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5Leader
AA Intelligence Index11.114.2Mistral Medium 3.5
Epoch Capabilities IndexNot measured141.4Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Agentic work benchmarks for Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5Leader
AA Agentic Index1.37.0Mistral Medium 3.5
Finance Agent (Vals AI)Not measured32.1%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)Not measured4.5%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)Not measured9.1%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)Not measured11.2%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
τ²-Bench TelecomNot measured94.2%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 36 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
Reasoning benchmarks for Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5Leader
GPQA DiamondNot measured34.9%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)63.1%74.8%Mistral Medium 3.5
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)9.7%13.8%Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: hard prompts13271436Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: expert13861432Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English13441445Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Vision: diagramsNot measured1254Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: homeworkNot measured1230Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Kagi LLM BenchmarkNot measured41.4%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
Math benchmarks for Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5Leader
ProofBenchNot measured9.0%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: mathNot measured1432Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: mathematical workNot measured1441Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
Knowledge benchmarks for Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5Leader
MMLU ProNot measured75.3%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
CaseLaw (Vals AI)Not measured44.2%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)Not measured58.8%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
TaxEval (Vals AI)Not measured68.0%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
MortgageTax (Vals AI)Not measured28.9%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
MedCode (Vals AI)Not measured33.8%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: science13351428Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare13321409Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: legal and government13271437Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: business and finance13221426Mistral Medium 3.5
Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
Web design benchmarks for Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5Leader
Design Arena: websitesNot measured1142Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Design Arena: UI componentsNot measured1076Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Design Arena: game devNot measured1079Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Design Arena: data vizNot measured1121Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Design Arena: 3DNot measured1061Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Design Arena: all code categoriesNot measured1121Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Design Arena: SVGNot measured949Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Design Arena: ASCII artNot measured1062Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index012
General benchmarks for Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5Leader
SAGE (Vals AI)Not measured37.6%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)Not measured67.7%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Vals Multimodal IndexNot measured34.8%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
IFBenchNot measured68.8%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)45.0%69.3%Mistral Medium 3.5
DTBenchNot measured75.5%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMCANot measured26.1%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Surface Evolver BenchNot measured26.9%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text13191421Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: instruction following13011415Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: creative writing12351374Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena VisionNot measured1222Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: English13371433Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: non-English13001405Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: Chinese13651444Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: GermanNot measured1455Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: KoreanNot measured1384Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: FrenchNot measured1448Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: SpanishNot measured1411Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: Russian12801396Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: PolishNot measured1430Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: multi-turn13001423Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: longer queries13241415Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: writing and language12691384Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: entertainment and media12711382Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Vision: EnglishNot measured1240Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: ChineseNot measured1244Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: reading textNot measured1233Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: humorNot measured1216Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: creative writingNot measured1198Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
EQ-Bench 4Not measured993Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkGranite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5Leader
Neither model has a result on 5 boards here

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.

Chat turn

1K input + 500 output tokens

Granite 4.2 8B$0.0002Fits in one request
Mistral Medium 3.5$0.0053Fits in one request

Granite 4.2 8B costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Granite 4.2 8B$0.0046Fits in one request
Mistral Medium 3.5$0.098Fits in one request

Granite 4.2 8B costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Granite 4.2 8B$0.018Exceeds the context window
Mistral Medium 3.5$0.375Fits in one request

Granite 4.2 8B costs less

Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.

Specification differences

The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.

Specifications of Granite 4.2 8B and Mistral Medium 3.5
SpecificationIBM Granite 4.2 8BMistral Medium 3.5
MakerIBM GraniteMistral AI
WeightsOpen weightsNo public weights listed
ReleasedAugust 31, 2026April 30, 2026
Context window131K262K
Input $/Mtok$0.08$1.50
Output $/Mtok$0.20$7.50
Coding indexNot benchmarked25.5
Independent measurements behind it03
Cost per solved taskNot computable$6.02
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Granite 4.2 8B better than Mistral Medium 3.5 for coding?

Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has a coding score, 25.5 on the Vibe Coding Index; Granite 4.2 8B has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Granite 4.2 8B for output tokens 37.5x cheaper ($0.20 vs $7.50 per million).

Which is cheaper, Granite 4.2 8B or Mistral Medium 3.5?

Granite 4.2 8B costs $0.08 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $1.50 and $7.50. Cost per solved task is known for Mistral Medium 3.5 only.

Which has the bigger context window, Granite 4.2 8B or Mistral Medium 3.5?

Mistral Medium 3.5, with 262K tokens against 131K.

How many benchmarks is the Granite 4.2 8B vs Mistral Medium 3.5 comparison based on?

27 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 23, 2026. Granite 4.2 8B's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Mistral Medium 3.5's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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