# Laya vs RightNow System Zero

> Laya scores 69.5 (B) to RightNow System Zero's 66.8 (B) for decision models. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convai-laya-vs-rightnow-system-zero.md (~3,000 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convai-laya-vs-rightnow-system-zero.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
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- 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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-31

Laya scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against RightNow System Zero's 66.8 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. RightNow System Zero leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do decision models.

- Laya: grade B, 69.5/100, rank #208 of 1244. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/convai-laya.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/convai-laya.json
- RightNow System Zero: grade B, 66.8/100, rank #320 of 1244. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/rightnow-system-zero.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rightnow-system-zero.json
- Best decision models for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/decision-models/index.md
- All 220 decisions comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-models/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Laya (B)

Good for: Fast, cheap classification and routing on short text in many languages, as a base to fine-tune on your own labels, and as an MCP or LangGraph routing step.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 65 against 50
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 83 against 68

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Runs on your own machine
- Open source

Watch for: Base checkpoints score 0.362 and 0.352 on the maintainers' typed-decisions benchmark against a 0.318 random baseline, so it needs fine-tuning

### RightNow System Zero (B)

Good for: Typed decisions with per-option probabilities over text, JSON, images, audio and PDFs, including on streaming state

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 86 against 80
- Security & auth, 70 against 57

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

Watch for: Standard context is 38,000 tokens. The 64k, 128k and 1M bands are held, and video is a preview


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Laya | RightNow System Zero | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 50 | Laya +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 83 | RightNow System Zero +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 86 | RightNow System Zero +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 70 | RightNow System Zero +13 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 40 | Laya +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 68 | Laya +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 70 | RightNow System Zero +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **69.5 · B** | **66.8 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Laya | RightNow System Zero |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Convai Innovations | RightNow AI, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.rightnowai.co/v1/system-zero/decide` |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP, websocket |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary hosted model under RightNow AI terms of use; the SDKs are Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | 8 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-27 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 29k stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Laya.** Apache-2.0 code and weights, installed with `pip install laya`, with Python 3.10 to 3.13 tested in CI. Base checkpoints score 0.362 and 0.352 on the maintainers' typed-decisions benchmark against a 0.318 random baseline, so it needs fine-tuning.

**RightNow System Zero.** A well-documented decision API with an OpenAPI file, idempotent retries, a detailed error catalogue, streaming over WebSocket and published per-unit prices with USD 5 of starting credit. Standard context is 38,000 tokens; the 64k, 128k and 1M bands are held and video is a preview. The latency and benchmark figures are RightNow's own, and several of its pages disagree.

## Before you call either

### Laya

1. Set `LAYA_API_KEY` before starting `laya-serve`. It listens on every interface by default
2. Gate on `answer_confidence`, not `confidence`, which measures entropy and doesn't match Jev's field
3. Shortlist choice questions with more than about 20 options using `predict_shortlist` or the `laya_shortlist` tool
4. Use semantic or opaque labels such as `A` and `B`, not `yes` and `no`, in choice questions. The checkpoints can follow the label text
5. Pass `model="multilingual"` and `max_len=8192` for long documents. The English checkpoint stops at 512 tokens

### RightNow System Zero

1. Send audio only as inline 16,000 Hz WAV. The FLAC, MP3, OGG and MP4 audio named on the blog are refused with media_unsupported.
2. Keep state under 38,000 tokens. Long-context requests return 404 long_context_not_available, which never succeeds on retry.
3. Reuse the same Idempotency-Key and body on retries, and stop when error.retryable or x-should-retry is false.
4. Check every entry in answers even on HTTP 200, since one question can be refused while the others are answered.
5. Treat probabilities as uncalibrated while calibrated is false, and pin system-zero-2.0.0 when answers must not move with the alias.

## Tutorials

- [Route a support request locally with Laya](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tutorials/convai-laya/), for Laya

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Laya or RightNow System Zero?

Laya scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against RightNow System Zero's 66.8 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. RightNow System Zero leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth.

### Do Laya and RightNow System Zero need an API key?

Laya needs no key. RightNow System Zero needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Laya and RightNow System Zero without installing anything?

Laya runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. RightNow System Zero has a hosted endpoint at https://api.rightnowai.co/v1/system-zero/decide.

### Are Laya and RightNow System Zero open source?

Laya is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for RightNow System Zero.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Laya or RightNow System Zero

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

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