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Head-to-head comparison

granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b

granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct (IBM Granite) and granite guardian 4.1 8b (IBM Granite) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 17 September 2026

As of 17 September 2026, granite guardian 4.1 8b holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#179 vs #206).

Which should you choose?

Choose granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct if…

  • ModelCap publishes no field on which granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct leads granite guardian 4.1 8b for this pair.

Choose granite guardian 4.1 8b if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #179 against #206 (21.3 vs 7.4 points).
  • you want the more recently listed model — granite guardian 4.1 8b was listed 16 April 2026, granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct 6 December 2024.

granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct and granite guardian 4.1 8b
Fieldgranite 3.1 3b a800m instructIBM Granitegranite guardian 4.1 8bIBM Granite
ModelCap Index position#206#179
Index score7.421.3
EvidenceEstimatedInherited
Input price / 1M tokensUnlistedUnlisted
Output price / 1M tokensUnlistedUnlisted
Context window— tokens— tokens
Max output tokens——
API providers listed00
Weight accessOpen weightsOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText
First listed6 December 202416 April 2026
PublisherIBM GraniteIBM Granite

Evidence: publisher-corpus-prior over 197 held-out anchors (7%); launch card against 2 resolved peers on 4 rows (94%); no cross-lab optimism probe available; shrunk 1.2 up toward the measured corpus · finetune of ibm-granite/granite-4.1-8b · finetune (100%). Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b

Neither model has a published result on a public benchmark board ModelCap tracks yet.

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b: common questions

Is granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct better than granite guardian 4.1 8b?

granite guardian 4.1 8b ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 September 2026: #179 against #206. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct cheaper than granite guardian 4.1 8b?

At least one of the two has no listed API price on ModelCap right now, so no price comparison is made.

Which has the bigger context window, granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct or granite guardian 4.1 8b?

Both publish a —-token context window.

Which is better for coding, granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct or granite guardian 4.1 8b?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct and granite guardian 4.1 8b open-weight models?

granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct: Open weights. granite guardian 4.1 8b: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct and granite guardian 4.1 8b?

ModelCap currently lists 0 API providers for granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct and 0 for granite guardian 4.1 8b, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this granite 3.1 3b a800m instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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