Granite 4.2 8B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

Price, context window & benchmark comparison

I

Granite 4.2 8B

IBM Granite
$0.06 / $0.25
Input / Output · per 1M tokens
VS
N

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning

NVIDIA
$0.08 / $0.20
Input / Output · per 1M tokens
Compare different models
I
N
Verdict: Granite 4.2 8B is 2% cheaper than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning on a typical 3:1 input/output mix. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (12.9 vs 11.1). Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has the larger context window (262K vs 131K).
Granite 4.2 8BNemotron 3.5 Lightning
Input price / 1M$0.06$0.08
Output price / 1M$0.25$0.20
Blended price (3:1)$0.11$0.11
Cached input / 1M$0.015$0.04
Context window131K262K
Max output118K131K
Intelligence index11.112.9
Coding index22.426.8
Providers4
Best provider uptime (30m)100.0%
Vision inputNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Released2026-08-312026-08-11
Retirement

Cost calculator

FAQ

Which is cheaper, Granite 4.2 8B or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?

Granite 4.2 8B is 2% cheaper than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning on a typical 3:1 input/output mix.

Granite 4.2 8B vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: which has a bigger context window?

Granite 4.2 8B: 131,072 tokens. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 262,144 tokens.

How much would 1 million requests cost?

At 2,000 input + 500 output tokens per request: Granite 4.2 8B ≈ $245.00, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning ≈ $260.00.

More comparisons