Claude Opus 5 vs IBM Granite 4.2 3B: Specs & Benchmark Comparison
Claude Opus 5 is developed by Anthropic, while IBM Granite 4.2 3B comes from IBM. Claude Opus 5 was released in July 2026, and IBM Granite 4.2 3B followed a month later in August 2026. IBM Granite 4.2 3B has a published size of about 3 billion parameters; Anthropic has not disclosed the parameter count of Claude Opus 5.
We have 13 benchmark results for Claude Opus 5 and 13 benchmark results for IBM Granite 4.2 3B, but they were measured on different benchmarks, so there is no like-for-like scoreboard.
IBM Granite 4.2 3B is the cheaper API at $0.03 per million input tokens and $0.12 per million output tokens, roughly 167 times cheaper than Claude Opus 5 at $5 and $25. Claude Opus 5 takes the larger context window at 1M tokens, compared with 131K for IBM Granite 4.2 3B. Claude Opus 5 accepts text and images as input, while IBM Granite 4.2 3B accepts text. On tooling, only Claude Opus 5 supports function calling and only Claude Opus 5 offers structured output.
| Characteristic | Claude Opus 5 | IBM Granite 4.2 3B |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Anthropic | IBM |
| Release Date | July 24, 2026 | August 25, 2026 |
| Parameters | — | 3B |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Context (input) | 1.0M | 131K |
| Context (output) | 128K | 131K |
| Input Price / 1M | $5.00 | $0.03 |
| Output Price / 1M | $25.00 | $0.12 |
| Average Score | 55.0% | 55.7% |
Verdict
IBM Granite 4.2 3B leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: Claude Opus 5 — 0.5, IBM Granite 4.2 3B — 0.6.
IBM Granite 4.2 3B is 200.0x cheaper: input $0.03/1M vs $5.00/1M tokens.
Claude Opus 5 supports a larger context: 1M vs 131K tokens.
IBM Granite 4.2 3B is newer: released 8/25/2026 vs 7/24/2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — Claude Opus 5 or IBM Granite 4.2 3B?
Which model is cheaper — Claude Opus 5 or IBM Granite 4.2 3B?
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The Claude Opus 5 and IBM Granite 4.2 3B comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the Claude Opus 5 or IBM Granite 4.2 3B page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.