# Darwin-36B-Opus vs Granite 4.2 8B (slim)

> Darwin-36B-Opus and Granite 4.2 8B score within a point of each other for open-weight models you run yourself, 61 and 61 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/darwin-36b-opus-vs-granite-4-2-8b.md (~9,500 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/darwin-36b-opus-vs-granite-4-2-8b.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/darwin-36b-opus-vs-granite-4-2-8b
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-10
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Darwin-36B-Opus and Granite 4.2 8B score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 61 (C) and 61 (C). Granite 4.2 8B leads on reach, agent interface and documentation and upkeep. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Darwin-36B-Opus: C 61, rank #43 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/darwin-36b-opus.min.md
- Granite 4.2 8B: C 61, rank #66 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/granite-4-2-8b.min.md
- Darwin-36B-Opus, good for Reasoning-heavy text tasks on a 32 GB machine or a single 80 GB GPU, where a disclosed training method isn't required
- Granite 4.2 8B, good for Agents that want a documented, signed, Apache 2.0 reasoning model with tool calling on a 16 GB machine Ahead on Reach, 95 against 80; Agent interface, 85 against 70; Documentation and upkeep, 92 against 61.

| Category | Darwin-36B-Opus | Granite 4.2 8B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 80 | 95 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 55 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 70 | 85 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 61 | 92 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Darwin-36B-Opus | Granite 4.2 8B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | FINAL-Bench (VIDRAFT) | IBM |
| Last release | 2026-04-23 | 2026-10-20 |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Documentation and upkeep, Granite 4.2 8B +31: Darwin-36B-Opus 61 (Model card 11, it covers architecture, parameters, context and languages but not intended use, limitations or a knowledge cut-off.); Granite 4.2 8B 92 (Model card 17, Intended use (best for), limitations (ethical considerations and limitations), architecture, parameters (8B), context length (128K native) and 12…)
- Reach, Granite 4.2 8B +15: Darwin-36B-Opus 80 (Memory 20, the publisher's Q4_K_M GGUF is 21.2 GB and needs about 25.4 GB with the fifth added, so 32 GB.); Granite 4.2 8B 95 (Memory 30, IBM's own 4-bit MLX build granite-4.2-8b-q4-mlx is 4.95 GB, and 4.95 GB × 1.2 = 5.9 GB, within 8 GB.)
- Agent interface, Granite 4.2 8B +15: Darwin-36B-Opus 70 (Chat template 20, Qwen3.6's Jinja template in the repository.); Granite 4.2 8B 85 (Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository, with roles, tools, tool responses, the thinking switch and low effort.)