# Clef vs GLiClass

> Clef scores 66.1 (B) on agent readiness against GLiClass's 49.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. GLiClass leads on payments & pricing. Both do inference decision. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-09

Clef scores 66.1 (B) on agent readiness against GLiClass's 49.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. GLiClass leads on payments & pricing. Both do inference decision.

- Clef: grade B, 66.1/100, rank #276 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-clef.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-clef.json
- GLiClass: grade D, 49.9/100, rank #697 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gliclass.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gliclass.json

## Which one, for what

### Clef (B)

Good for: Classification, routing and rubric scoring over text, JSON and images inside Cloudflare, or self-hosted where data can't leave.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 61 against 43
- Schema & documentation, 75 against 49
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 60
- Security & auth, 69 against 38
- Maintenance & community, 56 against 44
- Transparency & trust, 86 against 64

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Released on 1 October 2026, with no service record and no entry in the Workers AI changelog we read

### GLiClass (D)

Good for: Topic, intent and sentiment routing over a known label set on the owner's own CPU or GPU, where many labels must be scored at once.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source

Watch for: No calibration evidence. The cards report F1 only, and the docs tell users to calibrate thresholds on their own traffic


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Clef | GLiClass | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 61 | 43 | Clef +18 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 49 | Clef +26 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 60 | Clef +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 69 | 38 | Clef +31 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | GLiClass +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 44 | Clef +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 64 | Clef +22 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.1 · B** | **49.9 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clef | GLiClass |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Cloudflare | Knowledgator |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clef` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (weights and scoring code, following the Qwen base models). Training code and data aren't published | Apache-2.0 (library and the model weights we checked) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-07-21 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-12 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | none | 555 stars, 13k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Clef.** Apache-2.0 weights for both models on Hugging Face, ungated, with no account needed to download. Released on 1 October 2026, with no service record and no entry in the Workers AI changelog we read.

**GLiClass.** An Apache-2.0 classifier that scores a whole label set in one encoder pass on the owner's hardware, with single-label, multi-label, hierarchical and few-shot modes. It returns label scores with no calibration claim, the bundled server has no authentication, and the last three test runs on the main branch, on 24 September 2026, failed.

## Before you call either

### Clef

1. Send `model` as `clef` or `clef-flash` in the body as well as the model in the URL. The input schema requires it
2. Ask every independent question about one state in one call. Up to 64 are allowed
3. Try `clef-flash` first for text-only triage. It costs $0.09 per million input tokens against $0.24
4. Read the internal code on a 429. 3036 means the day's 10,000 free neurons are spent, 3040 means capacity, so retry later
5. Treat an answer about user-supplied text as a judgement that hostile input can steer. Cloudflare publishes no guidance on it

### GLiClass

1. Pass `--host 127.0.0.1` to `python -m gliclass.serve`, or put the port behind your own gateway. The server checks no credential
2. On a machine without a GPU add `--device cpu --dtype float32 --num-gpus-per-replica 0`. The default configuration expects CUDA
3. Send one text a request to `POST /gliclass`. An array in `texts` is cut to its first item without an error
4. Set `multi_label` to false for one label from a set. The default scores each label independently, so scores do not sum to 1
5. Keep text plus labels under the pipeline's 1,024-token `max_length`, or use `ZeroShotClassificationWithChunkingPipeline`. Longer input is truncated silently

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Clef or GLiClass?

Clef scores 66.1 (B) on agent readiness against GLiClass's 49.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. GLiClass leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Clef and GLiClass need an API key?

Clef needs an API key. GLiClass needs no key.

### Can an agent call Clef and GLiClass without installing anything?

Clef has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clef. No hosted endpoint is listed for GLiClass.

### Are Clef and GLiClass open source?

No open-source release is listed for Clef. GLiClass is open source (Apache-2.0 (library and the model weights we checked)).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-gliclass.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-gliclass.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "cloudflare-clef", "b": "gliclass"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cloudflare-clef gliclass`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-clef.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gliclass.json

## Other comparisons with Clef or GLiClass

- [Celeris-1 Decision vs Clef](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-cloudflare-clef.md)
- [Celeris-1 Decision vs GLiClass](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-gliclass.md)
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- [Clef vs Kev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-jaredpalmer-kev.md)
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- [Clef vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [Clef vs Jev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-typesafe-jev.md)
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- [Laya vs GLiClass](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convai-laya-vs-gliclass.md)
- [Decider vs GLiClass](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-gliclass.md)
- [GLiClass vs Kev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-jaredpalmer-kev.md)
- [GLiClass vs Liquid d1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-liquid-d1.md)
- [GLiClass vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [GLiClass vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [GLiClass vs Jev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-typesafe-jev.md)
- [GLiClass vs Vela 2.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-vela.md)