# Granite 4.2 8B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B (slim)

> Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 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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Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B scores 64.7 (B) on agent readiness against Granite 4.2 8B's 61 (C), and leads in 2 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
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: B 64.7, rank #20 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nemotron-3-5-lightning-30b-a3b.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 85; Documentation and upkeep, 92 against 75.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B, good for Agents on one 24 to 32 GB GPU or Mac that want a fast tool-calling reasoning model with long context and a permissive licence Ahead on Risk, 75 against 55; Agent interface, 90 against 85.

| Category | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 95 | 85 |
| Risk (20%) | 55 | 75 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 90 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 92 | 75 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Granite 4.2 8B | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | IBM | NVIDIA |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | OpenMDW-1.1 |
| Last release | 2026-10-20 | 2026-08-11 |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Risk, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B +20: Granite 4.2 8B 55 (File safety 15, safetensors only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files (25).); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 75 (File safety earns 25, safetensors only with no Python files, and nothing from the repository runs to load it or parse its output.)
- Documentation and upkeep, Granite 4.2 8B +17: 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…); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 75 (The model card earns 20, all seven items with limitations in the linked subcard.)
- Reach, Granite 4.2 8B +10: 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.); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 85 (Memory earns 25, since ggml-org's 18.9 GB Q4_0 GGUF and Ollama's 19 GB nvfp4 build both need under 24 GB with the fifth added.)
- Agent interface, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B +5: 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.); Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 90 (The chat template earns 20, a Jinja file in the repository.)