Choose AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini if…
- you need to fit long inputs in one request — 262K tokens is roughly 393 pages, against 197
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini vs IBM: Granite 4.2 8B
Neither wins outright: AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini is the pick when you need to fit long inputs in one request, IBM: Granite 4.2 8B when cost matters at scale.
Key numbers
| Spec | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Aion Labs | Ibm Granite |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $0.70 | $0.06 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $1.40 | $0.25 |
| Blended price (3:1 input/output) | $0.87 | $0.11 |
| Cheaper than … of all models we track | 42% | 79% |
| Context window | 262K tokens (~393 pages) | 131K tokens (~197 pages) |
| Larger context than … of all models | 48% | 23% |
| Max output per response | 33K tokens (~24,600 words) | 118K tokens (~88,500 words) |
| Input types | text | text |
| Output types | text | text |
| Free variant | No | No |
| Listed since | 2026-09-23 | 2026-08-31 |
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What it costs for real workloads
Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.
| Workload (per month) | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens) | $80.50 | $9.50 | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B saves $71.00 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens) | $98.00 | $9.70 | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B saves $88.30 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens) | $101 | $10.20 | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B saves $90.60 |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens) | $64.40 | $6.30 | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B saves $58.10 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens) | $36.40 | $3.25 | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B saves $33.15 |
Capabilities side by side
| Capability | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B | What it lets you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool / function calling | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | call your APIs and run agent loops |
| Structured output (JSON schema) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | return JSON that validates against your schema |
| Reasoning / thinking mode | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems |
| Image input | — | — | read screenshots, charts and scanned pages |
| Audio input | — | — | take speech or audio directly |
| File / PDF input | — | — | accept documents without your own parsing step |
| Image output | — | — | generate images, not just text |
| Built-in web search | — | — | answer from live web results |
| Seed (reproducible sampling) | — | ✓ Yes | repeat a generation for tests and evals |
| Log-probabilities | — | ✓ Yes | read token confidence for classification and scoring |
From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.
Price history
- AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-09-24.
- IBM: Granite 4.2 8B: input price cut 40% ($0.10 → $0.06/1M), output price raised 40% ($0.15 → $0.25/1M) on 2026-09-22 (3 price changes since 2026-09-01).
| Date | Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-22 | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B | $0.06 | $0.25 |
| 2026-09-21 | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B | $0.10 | $0.15 |
| 2026-09-09 | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B | $0.06 | $0.25 |
Which should you choose?
Choose IBM: Granite 4.2 8B if…
- cost matters at scale — it is 88% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($9.50 vs $80.50 a month for 50,000 support chats)
- you need seed (reproducible sampling) — to repeat a generation for tests and evals; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini does not advertise it
- you need log-probabilities — to read token confidence for classification and scoring; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini does not advertise it
- you generate long outputs in one go — up to 118K tokens (about 88,500 words) per response
Frequently asked questions
Is AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini better than IBM: Granite 4.2 8B?
Neither wins outright: AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini is the pick when you need to fit long inputs in one request, IBM: Granite 4.2 8B when cost matters at scale. In short: AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini when you need to fit long inputs in one request; IBM: Granite 4.2 8B when cost matters at scale, you need seed (reproducible sampling), you need log-probabilities, you generate long outputs in one go.
Which is cheaper, AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or IBM: Granite 4.2 8B?
IBM: Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper: $0.11 vs $0.87 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 88% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $9.50 against $80.50.
How much do AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and IBM: Granite 4.2 8B cost per million tokens?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini costs $0.70 per 1M input tokens and $1.40 per 1M output tokens; IBM: Granite 4.2 8B costs $0.06 input and $0.25 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.
Which has the bigger context window, AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or IBM: Granite 4.2 8B?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: 262K tokens, about 393 pages, against 131K (about 197 pages) for IBM: Granite 4.2 8B.
Do AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and IBM: Granite 4.2 8B support function calling and JSON output?
Tool calling — AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: yes, IBM: Granite 4.2 8B: yes. JSON-schema structured output — AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: yes, IBM: Granite 4.2 8B: yes.
Can AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or IBM: Granite 4.2 8B read images?
Neither accepts image input — both are text-in models.
Is AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or IBM: Granite 4.2 8B free to use?
No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.
What is the maximum output length of AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and IBM: Granite 4.2 8B?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini can write up to 33K tokens (about 24,600 words) per response; IBM: Granite 4.2 8B up to 118K (about 88,500 words).
When were AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and IBM: Granite 4.2 8B released?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini was listed on 2026-09-23; IBM: Granite 4.2 8B on 2026-08-31.
Has the price of AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or IBM: Granite 4.2 8B changed?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-09-24. IBM: Granite 4.2 8B: input price cut 40% ($0.10 → $0.06/1M), output price raised 40% ($0.15 → $0.25/1M) on 2026-09-22 (3 price changes since 2026-09-01).
About the two models
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini
Aion 3.5 Mini is a multi-model roleplaying and storytelling system from AionLabs, built on the GLM family of models. It is the smaller, lower-cost sibling of Aion 3.5 and uses...
Full AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini specs →IBM: Granite 4.2 8B
Granite 4.2 8B is a dense reasoning model from IBM. It is suited for mathematics, code generation, multilingual dialogue, and agentic workflows that need multi-step reasoning. It supports full, low-effort,...
Full IBM: Granite 4.2 8B specs →