# Granite 4.2 8B vs Inkling (slim)

> Inkling scores 64.7 (B) to Granite 4.2 8B's 61 (C) for open-weight models you run yourself. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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Inkling scores 64.7 (B) on agent readiness against Granite 4.2 8B's 61 (C), and leads in 1 of 4 scored categories. Granite 4.2 8B leads on reach and documentation and upkeep. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Granite 4.2 8B: C 61, rank #66 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/granite-4-2-8b.min.md
- Inkling: B 64.7, rank #19 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/inkling.min.md
- Granite 4.2 8B, good for Agents that want a documented, signed, Apache 2.0 reasoning model with tool calling on a 16 GB machine Ahead on Reach, 95 against 50; Documentation and upkeep, 92 against 87.
- Inkling, good for Agents calling a hosted open multimodal model with audio input, or teams with a multi-GPU datacentre node who want to run it themselves. Ahead on Risk, 70 against 55.

| Category | Granite 4.2 8B | Inkling |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 95 | 50 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 70 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 85 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 92 | 87 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Granite 4.2 8B | Inkling |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | IBM | Thinking Machines Lab |
| Last release | 2026-10-20 | 2026-07-23 |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Reach, Granite 4.2 8B +45: Granite 4.2 8B 95 (Memory 30, IBM's own 4-bit MLX build granite-4.2-8b-q4-mlx is 4.95 GB, and 4.95 GB × 1.2 = 5.9 GB, within 8 GB.); Inkling 50 (Memory 0 of 30, the smallest 4-bit build is Thinking Machines' NVFP4 at 592.0 GB, about 710 GB with a fifth added, far above 256 GB.)
- Risk, Inkling +15: Granite 4.2 8B 55 (File safety 15, safetensors only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files (25).); Inkling 70 (File safety 25, safetensors only and no repository code to run.)
- Documentation and upkeep, Granite 4.2 8B +5: Granite 4.2 8B 92 (Model card 17, Intended use (best for), limitations (ethical considerations and limitations), architecture, parameters (8B), context length (128K native) and 12…); Inkling 87 (Model card 17 of 20, everything but a dated knowledge cut-off, counting Thinking Machines' own model card page.)