Granite 4.2 8B vs Qwen3.6 Flash
Granite 4.2 8B costs 5.6x less per output token than Qwen3.6 Flash ($0.20 vs $1.125 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; no benchmark has tested both models yet.
- Coding
- No data
- Overall
- No data
- Output $/M
- $0.20
- Coding
- No data
- Overall
- No data
- Output $/M
- $1.125
Granite 4.2 8B or Qwen3.6 Flash: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Granite 4.2 8B for output tokens 5.6x cheaper ($0.20 vs $1.125 per million).
No benchmark has tested both yet. Granite 4.2 8B has results on AA Coding Index, SciCode and LMArena Text: coding; Qwen3.6 Flash on ALE-Bench, Epoch Capabilities Index and GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run). Compare them on price and context instead.
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.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Granite 4.2 8B has a AA Intelligence Index result, 11.1.
Directional only
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Granite 4.2 8B has a AA Agentic Index result, 1.3.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Qwen3.6 Flash
Qwen3.6 Flash takes 1M tokens against 131K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Granite 4.2 8B
Granite 4.2 8B $0.0002, Qwen3.6 Flash $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Granite 4.2 8B not benchmarked, Qwen3.6 Flash not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- None yet: no category has been tested on both models.
- Widest single gap
- None yet: no benchmark has tested both models.
- Output price
- Granite 4.2 8B $0.20 against Qwen3.6 Flash $1.125 per million output tokens, 5.6x apart.
- Context window
- Granite 4.2 8B takes 131K tokens, Qwen3.6 Flash 1M.
Benchmark by benchmark
Every board either model has a result on, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale. Only one model is measured on each, so no row names a leader.
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index5 boards measured
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Qwen3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Coding Index | 22.4 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| SciCode | 31.5% | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 326.4 | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1378 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1367 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 38 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards measured
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Qwen3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 11.1 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 142.9 | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board measured
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Qwen3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 1.3 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 41 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards measured
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Qwen3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 63.1% | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 9.7% | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 83.3% | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| SimpleBench | Not measured | 35.2% | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 12.0% | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 18.0% | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1327 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1386 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1345 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards measured
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Qwen3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 84.4% | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 22.5% | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards measured
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Qwen3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 15.9% | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1336 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1336 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1327 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1322 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index14 boards measured
| Benchmark | Granite 4.2 8B | Qwen3.6 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 45.0% | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| DTBench | Not measured | 77.1% | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 31.0% | Only Qwen3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text | 1319 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1300 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1236 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1337 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1301 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1367 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1282 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1301 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1325 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1269 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1271 | Not measured | Only Granite 4.2 8B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 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 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Granite 4.2 8B costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
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.
| Specification | IBM Granite 4.2 8B | Qwen3.6 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | IBM Granite | Qwen |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | August 31, 2026 | April 27, 2026 |
| Context window | 131K | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.08 | $0.1875 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.20 | $1.125 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Granite 4.2 8B better than Qwen3.6 Flash for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Granite 4.2 8B for output tokens 5.6x cheaper ($0.20 vs $1.125 per million).
Which is cheaper, Granite 4.2 8B or Qwen3.6 Flash?
Granite 4.2 8B costs $0.08 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; Qwen3.6 Flash costs $0.1875 and $1.125. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Granite 4.2 8B or Qwen3.6 Flash?
Qwen3.6 Flash, with 1M tokens against 131K.
Has any benchmark tested both Granite 4.2 8B and Qwen3.6 Flash?
No benchmark has tested both yet. Granite 4.2 8B has results on AA Coding Index, SciCode and LMArena Text: coding; Qwen3.6 Flash on ALE-Bench, Epoch Capabilities Index and GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run). Compare them on price and context instead. Data as of October 22, 2026.