# Clef vs Granite Switch 4.1

> Clef scores 65.9 (B) to Granite Switch 4.1's 59.4 (C) for decision models. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-17

Clef scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against Granite Switch 4.1's 59.4 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Granite Switch 4.1 leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do decision models.

- Clef: grade B, 65.9/100, rank #338 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-clef.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-clef.json
- Granite Switch 4.1: grade C, 59.4/100, rank #601 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/granite-switch.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/granite-switch.json
- Best decision models for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/decision-models/index.md
- All 190 decisions comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-models/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Clef (B)

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

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 61 against 46
- Schema & documentation, 75 against 55
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 66
- Security & auth, 69 against 54
- Transparency & trust, 86 against 74

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

Watch for: Clef and Clef-flash released on 1 October 2026, Clef-omni on 9 October, with no entry in the Workers AI changelog we read

### Granite Switch 4.1 (C)

Good for: A team with a GPU that wants chat, routing decisions, a safety gate and English transcription from one self-hosted endpoint under a permissive licence.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 54

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

Watch for: The decision adapter has no typed request format. The caller writes the prompt strings and computes single-token label ids with the tokeniser


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Clef | Granite Switch 4.1 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 61 | 46 | Clef +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 55 | Clef +20 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 66 | Clef +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 69 | 54 | Clef +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | Granite Switch 4.1 +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 81 | Granite Switch 4.1 +27 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 74 | Clef +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **65.9 · B** | **59.4 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clef | Granite Switch 4.1 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Cloudflare | IBM |
| 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 for the weights, the adapters and the repository |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-09 | 2026-10-14 |
| 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 |  |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Clef.** Apache-2.0 weights for all three models, ungated on Hugging Face. Clef-omni (9 October 2026) adds audio and video input. Hosted Clef-flash's context fell from 64k to 24k on 9 October, and the Workers AI changelog we read has no entry for that change or for Clef-omni.

**Granite Switch 4.1.** One self-hosted Apache 2.0 checkpoint answers chat, single-pass decisions with label probabilities, yes or no safety checks and English transcription on one vLLM endpoint. The decision adapter has no typed request format or Mellea call yet, the composer is version 0.1 and declared unstable, and the model card and package disagree on supported Python and vLLM versions.

## Before you call either

### Clef

1. Send `model` in the body as `clef`, `clef-flash` or `clef-omni`, matching 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 under 24k tokens. It costs $0.038 per million input tokens against $0.24 for Clef
4. Send Clef-omni audio and video as base64 data URIs in `audio` and `videos`. Remote URLs are not accepted
5. Media and questions count towards the context window. If they exceed it, the request fails. Otherwise text state is truncated to fit
6. Read the internal code on a 429. 3036 means the day's 10,000 free neurons are spent, 3040 means capacity, so retry later
7. Treat an answer about user-supplied text, images, audio or video as a judgement that hostile input can steer. Cloudflare publishes no guidance on it

### Granite Switch 4.1

1. Pass `chat_template_kwargs: {"adapter_name": "decision"}` or `"guardian-core"`. Without it the request is ordinary chat on the base model
2. For a decision, send the state and the `### DECISION` question as two user turns, request `logprob_token_ids` for the option labels, and set `max_completion_tokens` to 1
3. Use single-token option labels. Split more than 128 labels into chunks with the identical prompt and apply one softmax over all returned logprobs
4. Parse `guardian-core` answers as JSON, `{"score": "yes"}` or `{"score": "no"}`, where yes means the criterion is met
5. Add authentication before exposing the vLLM server. Neither vLLM nor the checkpoint requires a key by default

## Tutorials

- [Flag an outage report with Cloudflare Clef](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tutorials/cloudflare-clef/), for Clef

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Clef or Granite Switch 4.1?

Clef scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against Granite Switch 4.1's 59.4 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Granite Switch 4.1 leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

### Do Clef and Granite Switch 4.1 need an API key?

Clef needs an API key. Granite Switch 4.1 needs no key.

### Can an agent call Clef and Granite Switch 4.1 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 Granite Switch 4.1.

### Are Clef and Granite Switch 4.1 open source?

No open-source release is listed for Clef. Granite Switch 4.1 is open source (Apache 2.0 for the weights, the adapters and the repository).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Clef or Granite Switch 4.1

- [Celeris-1 Decision vs Clef](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-cloudflare-clef.md)
- [Celeris-1 Decision vs Granite Switch 4.1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-granite-switch.md)
- [Clef vs Laya](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-convai-laya.md)
- [Clef vs Decider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-decider.md)
- [Clef vs Decision 3.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-decision-3.md)
- [Clef vs GLiClass](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-gliclass.md)
- [Clef vs Kev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-jaredpalmer-kev.md)
- [Clef vs Liquid d1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-liquid-d1.md)
- [Clef vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
- [Clef vs Drex 1.5](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-nace-drex.md)
- [Clef vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Clef vs pplx-decider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-pplx-decider.md)
- [Clef vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Clef vs ScaleDown](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-scaledown.md)
- [Clef vs SPEV](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-sprag-spev.md)
- [Clef vs kettei](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-sqwish-kettei.md)
- [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)
- [Clef vs Vela 2.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-vela.md)
- [Laya vs Granite Switch 4.1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convai-laya-vs-granite-switch.md)
- [Decider vs Granite Switch 4.1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-granite-switch.md)
- [Decision 3.0 vs Granite Switch 4.1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-3-vs-granite-switch.md)
- [GLiClass vs Granite Switch 4.1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-granite-switch.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs Kev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-jaredpalmer-kev.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs Liquid d1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-liquid-d1.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs Drex 1.5](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-nace-drex.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs pplx-decider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-pplx-decider.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs ScaleDown](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-scaledown.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs SPEV](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-sprag-spev.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs kettei](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-sqwish-kettei.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs Jev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-typesafe-jev.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs Vela 2.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-vela.md)

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