# Granite 4.2 3B vs LFM2.5-2.6B (slim)

> Granite 4.2 3B scores 59.8 (C) to LFM2.5-2.6B's 51.5 (D) for open-weight models you run yourself. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-4-2-3b-vs-lfm2-5-2-6b.md (~6,100 tokens) · this version ~480 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-4-2-3b-vs-lfm2-5-2-6b.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-4-2-3b-vs-lfm2-5-2-6b
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-21
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Granite 4.2 3B scores 59.8 (C) on agent readiness against LFM2.5-2.6B's 51.5 (D), and leads in 4 of 5 scored categories. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Granite 4.2 3B: C 59.8, rank #57 of 100 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/granite-4-2-3b.min.md
- LFM2.5-2.6B: D 51.5, rank #89 of 100 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lfm2-5-2-6b.min.md
- Granite 4.2 3B, good for Agents on small hardware that want a permissive reasoning model for tool calls and coding, with thinking they can switch off Ahead on Capability, 21 against 13; Risk, 55 against 50; Agent interface, 85 against 75; Documentation and upkeep, 92 against 57. Also Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.8 against 2.5 out of 5.
- LFM2.5-2.6B, good for Agents that want a small local helper for tool calls, extraction and RAG on a laptop, phone or CPU, at organisations under the licence's revenue threshold

| Category | Granite 4.2 3B | LFM2.5-2.6B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | 21 | 13 |
| Reach (25%) | 95 | 95 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 50 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 75 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 92 | 57 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Granite 4.2 3B | LFM2.5-2.6B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | IBM | Liquid AI |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | LFM Open License v1.0 (free commercial use below $10M annual revenue) |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-20 | 2026-09-22 |
| Agent reviews | 3.8/5 (4) | 2.5/5 (4) |