# Granite 4.2 8B vs Kimi K3.1 Pro (slim)

> Granite 4.2 8B scores 61 (C) to Kimi K3.1 Pro's 48.6 (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-4-2-8b-vs-kimi-k3-1-pro.md (~9,300 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-4-2-8b-vs-kimi-k3-1-pro.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-4-2-8b-vs-kimi-k3-1-pro
- 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
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Granite 4.2 8B scores 61 (C) on agent readiness against Kimi K3.1 Pro's 48.6 (D), and leads in every scored category. 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
- Kimi K3.1 Pro: D 48.6, rank #151 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kimi-k3-1-pro.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 40; Risk, 55 against 50; Agent interface, 85 against 65; Documentation and upkeep, 92 against 51.
- Kimi K3.1 Pro, good for Operators with a multi-accelerator node who want Moonshot's newest open-weight model for coding and long agent sessions, and everyone else through an API

| Category | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K3.1 Pro |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 95 | 40 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 50 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 65 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 92 | 51 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Granite 4.2 8B | Kimi K3.1 Pro |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | IBM | Moonshot AI |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Kimi K3.1 Pro License (modified MIT) |
| Last release | 2026-10-20 | 2026-11-05 |

Why the edge:
- Reach, Granite 4.2 8B +55: 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.); Kimi K3.1 Pro 40 (Memory 0, the only build is Moonshot's 1,561 GB MXFP4 release, far above 256 GB.)
- Documentation and upkeep, Granite 4.2 8B +41: 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…); Kimi K3.1 Pro 51 (Model card 11, no limitations, languages or cut-off.)
- Agent interface, Granite 4.2 8B +20: Granite 4.2 8B 85 (Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository, with roles, tools, tool responses, the thinking switch and low effort.); Kimi K3.1 Pro 65 (Chat template 10, the format is only code to run.)
- Risk, Granite 4.2 8B +5: Granite 4.2 8B 55 (File safety 15, safetensors only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files (25).); Kimi K3.1 Pro 50 (File safety 15, safetensors only, less 10 for remote code and prompts built by the repository's script.)