# Decider vs Granite Switch 4.1

> Decider scores 69.5 (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

Decider scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against Granite Switch 4.1's 59.4 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Granite Switch 4.1 leads on security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do decision models.

- Decider: grade B, 69.5/100, rank #193 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/decider.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/decider.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

### Decider (B)

Good for: Local classification, routing, triage and checks where a team wants open weights in several sizes and a Jev-shaped route.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 90 against 46
- Schema & documentation, 78 against 55
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 66
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 81

Watch for: The local server has no authentication option. It binds to 127.0.0.1 since 1.7.1

### 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:
- Security & auth, 54 against 38
- Transparency & trust, 74 against 46

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 | Decider | Granite Switch 4.1 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 90 | 46 | Decider +44 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 55 | Decider +23 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 66 | Decider +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 38 | 54 | Granite Switch 4.1 +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 81 | Decider +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 46 | 74 | Granite Switch 4.1 +28 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **69.5 · B** | **59.4 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Decider | Granite Switch 4.1 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Mark Marosi (Mapika) | IBM |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (code and weights) | Apache 2.0 for the weights, the adapters and the repository |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-14 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 1.1k stars, 2.7k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (4) | 3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Decider.** An Apache-2.0 decision model family with a dated changelog, passing CI, 21 package releases since 22 September 2026 and model cards that list measured regressions. One person maintains it, the local server has no authentication option, states over 32,768 tokens are cut without an error, and no security policy is published.

**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

### Decider

1. Pin weights by Hub tag (`v10`, `v2`) when results must repeat. The `main` branch of each model repository changes with new versions
2. Read `x_p_max` for the top probability. Since 1.3.0 `confidence` on choice and score answers follows TypeSafe's rescaled definition, not the top probability
3. Keep the server on 127.0.0.1 or put an authenticating proxy in front. It has no key option
4. Count state tokens before sending. Over 32,768 the state is cut silently, and `/decide` caps context at 1,536 tokens
5. Split multi-step arithmetic or multi-hop judgements into several questions, and don't write long rules into a question. The README says both fail

### 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

- [Classify a message locally with Decider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tutorials/decider/), for Decider

## Questions

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

Decider scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against Granite Switch 4.1's 59.4 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Granite Switch 4.1 leads on security & auth and transparency & trust.

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

Neither needs a key.

### Can an agent call Decider and Granite Switch 4.1 without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Decider. No hosted endpoint is listed for Granite Switch 4.1.

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

Yes. Decider is open source (Apache-2.0 (code and weights)). 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/decider-vs-granite-switch.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-granite-switch.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "decider", "b": "granite-switch"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare decider granite-switch`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/decider.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/granite-switch.json

## Other comparisons with Decider or Granite Switch 4.1

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