Granite 4.2 30B vs Granite 4.2 8B

Granite 4.2 8B and 30B are dense text checkpoints in the same IBM family, with Apache licensing and shared reasoning and tool-workflow concepts. The 30B checkpoint requires a larger deployment footprint. The practical question is whether its additional completed-task quality is useful enough for the application to pay that cost.

Build a trial around multi-step document work, a repository change and a tool sequence with an error that requires recovery. Use fixed input files, the same template settings and an explicit acceptance rubric. Count accepted results and inspect unnecessary actions, unsupported claims and missed constraints. Include a shorter ordinary request so the larger model is assessed on the traffic it will actually serve.

Measure accelerator memory, concurrency and response latency in the intended environment. A general benchmark or a native context allowance does not describe the complete serving path. Keep pricing for any managed route tied to that named service.