NodeGround: A Node Classification Benchmark in the Graph Foundation Model Era

Jinmo Lee, Dooho Lee, Minho Jeong, Jaemin Yoo

Can a pretrained graph model replace training and tuning a separate predictor for each dataset? Answering this requires evaluating prediction quality alongside computational cost. We present NodeGround, a node classification benchmark that puts graph foundation models (GFMs) and dataset-specific supervised learning under a common evaluation framework. The benchmark spans 51 datasets and evaluates six GFMs alongside 15 supervised methods under two label-availability regimes. Shared data partitions, validation-only model selection, controlled hyperparameter searches, and multiple predictive metrics make comparisons systematic, while workflow measurements account for adaptation, training, tuning, and inference. The results favor carefully tuned graph neural networks overall. GraphPFN reaches third place by Elo when more labels are available, yet its relative strengths vary substantially with dataset properties. Efficiency comparisons further qualify the benefits of pretrained reuse: GVT and GraphPFN appear on the Pareto frontiers when supervised methods are represented by their default and fully tuned configurations. Adding intermediate tuning budgets removes this advantage for GVT…