# Granite 4.2 30B vs Qwen3.5-397B-A17B (slim)

> Qwen3.5-397B-A17B scores 64.1 (B) 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.

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Qwen3.5-397B-A17B scores 64.1 (B) on agent readiness against Granite 4.2 30B's 61 (C), and leads in 0 of 4 scored categories. Granite 4.2 30B leads on reach, agent interface and documentation and upkeep. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Granite 4.2 30B: C 61, rank #65 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/granite-4-2-30b.min.md
- Qwen3.5-397B-A17B: B 64.1, rank #23 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen3-5-397b-a17b.min.md
- 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 Ahead on Reach, 90 against 70; Agent interface, 85 against 70; Documentation and upkeep, 87 against 34.
- Qwen3.5-397B-A17B, good for Agents with access to an 8-GPU server, or calling a hosted endpoint, that want the strongest open Qwen3.5 with vision and a plain licence.

| Category | Granite 4.2 30B | Qwen3.5-397B-A17B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 90 | 70 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 55 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 70 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 87 | 34 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Granite 4.2 30B | Qwen3.5-397B-A17B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | IBM | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Last release | 2026-09-04 | 2026-02-16 |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.8/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Documentation and upkeep, Granite 4.2 30B +53: Granite 4.2 30B 87 (Model card 17, Intended use (best for), limitations (ethical considerations and limitations), architecture, parameters (30B), context length (128K native) and 1…); Qwen3.5-397B-A17B 34 (The card covers five of the seven items and misses limitations and a cut-off (14).)
- Reach, Granite 4.2 30B +20: 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.); Qwen3.5-397B-A17B 70 (Memory scores 0, since even the smallest 4-bit build, LM Studio's MLX 4-bit at 223.9 GB, needs about 269 GB with a fifth added, and Alibaba's own GPTQ-Int4 abou…)
- Agent interface, Granite 4.2 30B +15: Granite 4.2 30B 85 (Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository, with roles, tools, tool responses, the thinking switch and low effort.); Qwen3.5-397B-A17B 70 (The template ships in the repository (20) and renders several tool calls per turn for a model trained for tool use (20).)