Head to head · Inference decision · October 2026 research run
Clef vs OpenAI Decisions API
OpenAI Decisions API scores 71.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Clef's 66.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Clef leads on reliability and payments & pricing. Both do inference decision.
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 53
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
Also in its favour
- 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
Good for High-volume yes or no checks, routing among fixed options and rubric scoring over text and images, for teams already on an OpenAI key.
Ahead on
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 75
- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 75
- Security & auth, 83 against 69
- Maintenance & community, 77 against 56
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
Watch for
Public beta released on 6 October 2026. The guide expects general availability in the coming weeks and gives no date
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Clef | OpenAI Decisions API | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 61 | 53 | Clef +8 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 75 | 89 | OpenAI Decisions API +14 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 75 | 87 | OpenAI Decisions API +12 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 69 | 83 | OpenAI Decisions API +14 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 40 | 30 | Clef +10 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 56 | 77 | OpenAI Decisions API +21 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 86 | 83 | Clef +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 66.1 · B | 71.5 · BB |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Clef | OpenAI Decisions API |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Cloudflare | OpenAI |
| Hosted endpoint | https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clef | https://api.openai.com/v1/decisions |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for inference decision | not published | $0.10 per 1M tokens |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (weights and scoring code, following the Qwen base models). Training code and data aren't published | Proprietary service under OpenAI's services agreement. The official SDKs are Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-12 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 32k stars |
| 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.
OpenAI Decisions API
Typed predicate, choice and score answers with probabilities, up to 200 questions a call, at $0.10 per million input tokens with no output charge. It is a public beta released on 6 October 2026, with one model alias, no dated snapshot, no Batch route and no SLA found.
Before you call either
Clef
- Send
modelascleforclef-flashin the body as well as the model in the URL. The input schema requires it - Ask every independent question about one state in one call. Up to 64 are allowed
- Try
clef-flashfirst for text-only triage. It costs $0.09 per million input tokens against $0.24 - Read the internal code on a 429. 3036 means the day's 10,000 free neurons are spent, 3040 means capacity, so retry later
- Treat an answer about user-supplied text as a judgement that hostile input can steer. Cloudflare publishes no guidance on it
OpenAI Decisions API
- Put independent questions about one input in a single
questionsarray. Send a separate request when a question depends on an earlier answer - Check each answer's
typebefore reading it. A question can come back asrefusalwhile the others in the same request are answered - Encode images as base64 data URLs. Hosted URLs and
file_idinputs are rejected - Give a
choicequestion a fallback value such asother, and set thresholds from your own labelled examples - Use Python SDK 3.26.0 or JavaScript 7.30.0 or later, and follow
Retry-Afteron 429 and 503
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Clef or OpenAI Decisions API?
OpenAI Decisions API scores 71.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Clef's 66.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Clef leads on reliability and payments & pricing.
Do Clef and OpenAI Decisions API need an API key?
Both need an API key.
Can an agent call Clef and OpenAI Decisions API without installing anything?
Yes. Clef has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clef and OpenAI Decisions API at https://api.openai.com/v1/decisions.
Other comparisons with Clef or OpenAI Decisions API
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-openai-decisions-api.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-clef.json·/api/v1/tools/openai-decisions-api.json - From a terminal
anchor compare cloudflare-clef openai-decisions-api(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "cloudflare-clef", "b": "openai-decisions-api"}at/mcp, no key