# Clef vs Microsoft-Decision-1

> Clef scores 65.9 (B) to Microsoft-Decision-1's 39 (E) for decision models. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-microsoft-decision-1
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-microsoft-decision-1.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-microsoft-decision-1.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-10

Clef scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft-Decision-1's 39 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do decision models.

- Clef: grade B, 65.9/100, rank #307 of 954. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-clef.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-clef.json
- Microsoft-Decision-1: grade E, 39/100, rank #921 of 954. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-decision-1.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-decision-1.json
- Best decision models for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/decision-models/index.md
- All 91 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 30
- Schema & documentation, 75 against 43
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 50
- Security & auth, 69 against 52
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 54 against 40
- Transparency & trust, 86 against 32

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

### Microsoft-Decision-1 (E)

Good for: Routing, classification, prioritisation and rubric checks over text, where a fixed set of options and a low price per token matter more than generated text.

Watch for: Public preview only. Microsoft's post gives no general availability date and states no licence for the hosted model


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Clef | Microsoft-Decision-1 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 61 | 30 | Clef +31 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 43 | Clef +32 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 50 | Clef +25 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 69 | 52 | Clef +17 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 20 | Clef +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 40 | Clef +14 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 32 | Clef +54 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **65.9 · B** | **39 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clef | Microsoft-Decision-1 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Cloudflare | Microsoft |
| 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 | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for decision models | not published | free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (weights and scoring code, following the Qwen base models). Training code and data aren't published | Not stated. The announcement and OpenRouter's model page name no licence, and no weights repository was found. |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-09 | 2026-10-09 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-12 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given |  |
| 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) | none |

## 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.

**Microsoft-Decision-1.** Microsoft publishes $0.042 per million input tokens, with output free, and the model is callable through Microsoft Foundry and OpenRouter. It is in public preview. No licence, model-specific retention statement, rate limit or deprecation policy was found, and the Foundry route needs an Azure deployment and an Entra token. Latency and accuracy figures are Microsoft's claims.

## 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

### Microsoft-Decision-1

1. Use OpenRouter's Decisions method, not an OpenAI chat-completions SDK. OpenRouter says chat completions SDKs will not work with this model
2. On Foundry, send the request to the deployment's /providers/microsoft/v1/systemone path with a Microsoft Entra token for https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default, not an API key
3. Take the deployment name from the Foundry quickstart before the first call. Microsoft says to confirm the route and authentication header, and the pages reviewed do not give the name
4. Keep each request within OpenRouter's 32,768-token context and send only fixed options, since the model is not intended for open-ended generation
5. Measure latency and calibration on your own labelled cases before relying on Microsoft's latency and 'nine times out of 10' statements

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Clef or Microsoft-Decision-1?

Clef scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft-Decision-1's 39 (E), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Clef and Microsoft-Decision-1 need an API key?

Clef needs an API key. Microsoft-Decision-1 takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Clef and Microsoft-Decision-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 Microsoft-Decision-1.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-microsoft-decision-1.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-microsoft-decision-1.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "cloudflare-clef", "b": "microsoft-decision-1"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cloudflare-clef microsoft-decision-1`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-clef.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-decision-1.json

## Other comparisons with Clef or Microsoft-Decision-1

- [Celeris-1 Decision vs Clef](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-cloudflare-clef.md)
- [Celeris-1 Decision vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-microsoft-decision-1.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 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 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 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 Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convai-laya-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
- [Decider vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
- [GLiClass vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
- [Kev vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jaredpalmer-kev-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
- [Liquid d1 vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs Drex 1.5](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-nace-drex.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs pplx-decider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-pplx-decider.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs Jev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-typesafe-jev.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs Vela 2.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-vela.md)