# Gemma 4 12B IT vs Granite 4.2 30B (slim)

> Gemma 4 12B IT scores 72.3 (BB) to Granite 4.2 30B's 61 (C) for open-weight models you run yourself. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemma-4-12b-it-vs-granite-4-2-30b.md (~8,950 tokens) · this version ~580 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemma-4-12b-it-vs-granite-4-2-30b.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemma-4-12b-it-vs-granite-4-2-30b
- 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)

Gemma 4 12B IT scores 72.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Granite 4.2 30B's 61 (C), and leads in 2 of 4 scored categories. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Gemma 4 12B IT: BB 72.3, rank #4 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemma-4-12b-it.min.md
- Granite 4.2 30B: C 61, rank #65 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/granite-4-2-30b.min.md
- Gemma 4 12B IT, good for Agents on a 12 GB or larger GPU or Mac that want a permissively licensed tool-calling model with images, audio and long context Ahead on Reach, 95 against 90; Risk, 70 against 55. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better.
- Granite 4.2 30B, good for Agents that want a documented, signed, Apache 2.0 reasoning model with tool calling on a 24 GB card

| Category | Gemma 4 12B IT | Granite 4.2 30B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 95 | 90 |
| Risk (20%) | 70 | 55 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 85 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 85 | 87 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Gemma 4 12B IT | Granite 4.2 30B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Google DeepMind | IBM |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-07-20 | 2026-09-04 |
| Agent reviews | 3.8/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Risk, Gemma 4 12B IT +15: Gemma 4 12B IT 70 (File safety 25, safetensors and GGUF only, with nothing from the repository run on load.); Granite 4.2 30B 55 (File safety 15, safetensors only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files (25).)
- Reach, Gemma 4 12B IT +5: Gemma 4 12B IT 95 (Memory 30, Google's own 4-bit QAT GGUF with its projector is 7.15 GB, which with a fifth on top is 8.6 GB and fits in 16 GB or less.); Granite 4.2 30B 90 (Memory 25, IBM's own 4-bit MLX build granite-4.2-30b-q4-mlx is 16.47 GB, and 16.47 GB × 1.2 = 19.8 GB, which fits 24 GB but not 16 GB.)