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Head-to-head comparison

granite 3.3 8b instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b

granite 3.3 8b 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 15 September 2026

As of 15 September 2026, granite guardian 4.1 8b holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#177 vs #200).

Which should you choose?

Choose granite 3.3 8b instruct if…

  • ModelCap publishes no field on which granite 3.3 8b 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 — #177 against #200 (20.9 vs 11.2 points).
  • you want the more recently listed model — granite guardian 4.1 8b was listed 16 April 2026, granite 3.3 8b instruct 9 April 2025.

granite 3.3 8b instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of granite 3.3 8b instruct and granite guardian 4.1 8b
Fieldgranite 3.3 8b instructIBM Granitegranite guardian 4.1 8bIBM Granite
ModelCap Index position#200#177
Index score11.220.9
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 listed9 April 202516 April 2026
PublisherIBM GraniteIBM Granite

Evidence: publisher-corpus-prior over 194 held-out anchors (23%); opens from measured predecessor ibm-granite/granite-3.1-8b-instruct (77%); shrunk 3.6 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 3.3 8b instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b

Public benchmark boards where granite 3.3 8b instruct or granite guardian 4.1 8b has a published result
Boardgranite 3.3 8b instructgranite guardian 4.1 8bLeads
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis10.5%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Granite 3.3 8B (Non-reasoning)":reasoning=false—Only one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis4.2%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Granite 3.3 8B (Non-reasoning)":reasoning=false—Only one result

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 3.3 8b instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b: common questions

Is granite 3.3 8b instruct better than granite guardian 4.1 8b?

granite guardian 4.1 8b ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 15 September 2026: #177 against #200. 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 3.3 8b 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 3.3 8b instruct or granite guardian 4.1 8b?

Both publish a —-token context window.

Which is better for coding, granite 3.3 8b 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 3.3 8b instruct and granite guardian 4.1 8b open-weight models?

granite 3.3 8b 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 3.3 8b instruct and granite guardian 4.1 8b?

ModelCap currently lists 0 API providers for granite 3.3 8b 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 3.3 8b instruct vs granite guardian 4.1 8b comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 15 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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