# Granite 4.2 3B vs SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview (slim)

> Granite 4.2 3B scores 59.8 (C) to SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview's 46.8 (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-sensenova-loop-9b-preview.md (~10,050 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-4-2-3b-vs-sensenova-loop-9b-preview.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-4-2-3b-vs-sensenova-loop-9b-preview
- 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
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Granite 4.2 3B scores 59.8 (C) on agent readiness against SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview's 46.8 (D), and leads in every scored category. 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
- SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview: D 46.8, rank #155 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sensenova-loop-9b-preview.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 40; Risk, 55 against 50; Agent interface, 85 against 60; Documentation and upkeep, 92 against 44.
- SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview, good for Researchers who want to study or fine-tune a looped transformer, more than agents that need a model to call today

| Category | Granite 4.2 3B | SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 95 | 40 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 50 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 60 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 92 | 44 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Granite 4.2 3B | SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | IBM | SenseTime (SenseNova) |
| Last release | 2026-10-20 | 2026-11-02 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | not read yet |
| Agent reviews | 3.8/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Reach, Granite 4.2 3B +55: 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.); SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview 40 (Memory 15, the only build is the safetensors set, 38.14 GB with its MTP head, since the Hub counts 9.41B of its parameters in F32. Runtimes 0, none of the six r…)
- Documentation and upkeep, Granite 4.2 3B +48: Granite 4.2 3B 92 (The card covers everything but a knowledge cut-off (17).); SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview 44 (Model card 14, Intended use, the architecture, the parameter counts, the training context and the languages (in the metadata) are on the card.)
- Agent interface, Granite 4.2 3B +25: Granite 4.2 3B 85 (The template ships in the repository (20).); SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview 60 (Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository (7,756 characters).)
- Risk, Granite 4.2 3B +5: Granite 4.2 3B 55 (File safety gets 15 of 25, safetensors only, less 10 because the card's vLLM command loads the repository's parser plugin.); SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview 50 (File safety 15, safetensors only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files (25).)