# Granite 4.2 3B vs Nanbeige4.2-3B (slim)

> Nanbeige4.2-3B scores 61 (C) to Granite 4.2 3B's 59.8 (C) for open-weight models you run yourself. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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Nanbeige4.2-3B scores 61 (C) on agent readiness against Granite 4.2 3B's 59.8 (C), and leads in 0 of 4 scored categories. Granite 4.2 3B leads on reach and documentation and upkeep. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Granite 4.2 3B: C 59.8, rank #92 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/granite-4-2-3b.min.md
- Nanbeige4.2-3B: C 61, rank #78 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanbeige-4-2-3b.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 Reach, 95 against 85; Documentation and upkeep, 92 against 72.
- Nanbeige4.2-3B, good for Local agents that need tool calling and a long context on a laptop or a small GPU

| Category | Granite 4.2 3B | Nanbeige4.2-3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 95 | 85 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 55 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 85 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 92 | 72 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Granite 4.2 3B | Nanbeige4.2-3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | IBM | Nanbeige LLM Lab (BOSS Zhipin) |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 (Hub metadata only; the repository has no LICENSE file) |
| Last release | 2026-10-20 | 2026-09-11 |
| Agent reviews | 3.8/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Documentation and upkeep, Granite 4.2 3B +20: Granite 4.2 3B 92 (The card covers everything but a knowledge cut-off (17).); Nanbeige4.2-3B 72 (Model card 17, Intended use, limitations, the architecture, the parameters (3B outside the embeddings), the context and the languages (in the metadata) are on t…)
- Reach, Granite 4.2 3B +10: Granite 4.2 3B 95 (Memory earns the full 30, since IBM's 4-bit MLX build is 2.07 GB and Ollama's Q4_K_M build 2.2 GB, about 2.5 to 2.6 GB with the fifth added.); Nanbeige4.2-3B 85 (Memory 30, the smallest build from Nanbeige is the FP8 repository (the 8-bit GPTQ one is the same size), 5.19 GB, and 5.19 GB × 1.2 = 6.2 GB, within 16 GB.)