LLM Reference

Granite Guardian Models by IBM Research

IBM ResearchApache 2.0Open source
6 models2024–2026Up to 128k ctx

Last refreshed 2026-09-03. Next refresh: weekly.

Details

ResearcherIBM Research
LicenseApache 2.0OSI-approved
Commercial useCommercial use: permitted
Models6
Released2024–2026
Max context128k

About

The Granite Guardian family of language models is engineered to identify and mitigate risks within user prompts and responses by serving as safety guardrails. These models, developed by IBM, are adept at pinpointing issues such as social bias, hate speech, toxicity, and other harmful content, as categorized in IBM's AI Risk Atlas. Additionally, they offer specific checks for concerns related to Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), such as groundedness and context relevance. Available in 8B and 2B parameter sizes, Granite Guardian models can be integrated with any open or proprietary language models to bolster AI safety and responsible use practices. Notably, in testing, the Granite Guardian 3.0 8B model surpassed Meta's LlamaGuard 3 8B by improving the average F1-score by 4 points on standard risk detection benchmarks 345.

Decision facts

Best fit
safetyagent workflows
Capability starting point
Granite Guardian 3.3 8B with 128k context
Lowest tracked input
Not tracked
Closest related family
Granite 4

Current Variants

Use-when guidance is based on each model's tracked capabilities, context window, release date, and replacement status.

6 in view

Use when the workload needs safety, 8k context, and 8B parameters.

2026-04safety8k context8B parameters

Use when the workload needs safety, 128k context, and 8B parameters.

2025-08safety128k context8B parameters

Use when the workload needs safety, 4k context, and 5B parameters.

2025-02safety4k context5B parameters

Use when the workload needs safety, 128k context, and 8B parameters.

2024-12safety128k context8B parameters

Use when the workload needs safety, 128k context, and 2B parameters.

2024-12safety128k context2B parameters

Use when the workload needs safety, 4k context, and 2B parameters.

2024-10safety4k context2B parameters

Release Timeline

5 release groups
2026-04
1 current
Granite Guardian 4.1 8B
safety8k context8B parameters
Current
2025-08
1 current
Granite Guardian 3.3 8B
safety128k context8B parameters
Current
2025-02
1 current
Granite Guardian 3.2 5B
safety4k context5B parameters
Current
2024-12
2 current
Granite Guardian 3.1 2B
safety128k context2B parameters
Current
Granite Guardian 3.1 8B
safety128k context8B parameters
Current
2024-10
1 current
Granite Guardian 3.0 2B
safety4k context2B parameters
Current

Specifications(6 models)

Granite Guardian model specifications comparison
ModelReleasedContextParameters
Granite Guardian 4.1 8B2026-048k8B
Granite Guardian 3.3 8B2025-08128k8B
Granite Guardian 3.2 5B2025-024k5B
Granite Guardian 3.1 8B2024-12128k8B
Granite Guardian 3.1 2B2024-12128k2B
Granite Guardian 3.0 2B2024-104k2B