# Decider vs Vela 2.0

> Decider scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against Vela 2.0's 66.5 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Vela 2.0 leads on security & auth. Both do inference decision. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-vela
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-vela.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-vela.min.md (~480 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-vela.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: 2026-10-09

Decider scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against Vela 2.0's 66.5 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Vela 2.0 leads on security & auth. Both do inference decision.

- Decider: grade B, 69.5/100, rank #172 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/decider.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/decider.json
- Vela 2.0: grade B, 66.5/100, rank #268 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vela.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vela.json

## 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 57

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

### Vela 2.0 (B)

Good for: Self-hosted routing and guardrail checks in one call, where span offsets for personal data or unsupported claims matter.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 60 against 38

Watch for: No version tags on the four Hub repositories, and the 4B and 9B weights were replaced in place on 3 October 2026


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Decider | Vela 2.0 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 90 | 57 | Decider +33 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 78 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 79 | Decider +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 38 | 60 | Vela 2.0 +22 |
| 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 | 84 | Decider +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 46 | 48 | Vela 2.0 +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **69.5 · B** | **66.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Decider | Vela 2.0 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Mark Marosi (Mapika) | vLLM Semantic Router project and KR Labs |
| 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 (weights, code and documentation). The 0.3B's tokeniser keeps the Gemma Terms of Use, and training data keeps its own licences |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-06 |
| 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 | 6.1k stars |

## 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.

**Vela 2.0.** One self-hosted call answers routing, prompt-attack, personal-data and unsupported-claim questions with probabilities and character offsets, under Apache-2.0 with SHA-256 manifests. The models are days old and carry no Hub version tags, and the three larger sizes keep 74 to 89 per cent of their Decision 2.0 bases on the Jev Decision Index by the authors' figures.

## 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

### Vela 2.0

1. Pin a commit hash with `revision=` when loading from the Hub. The repositories have no tags and `main` has changed since launch
2. Send the served name in `model`, for example `vllm-sr/Vela-2.0-4B`. The bundled server answers 422 to any other name
3. Name span questions `pii`, `halu` or `toxic`, or set `"head": "router"`, to get the trained router head. Other labels go to the broad head
4. Keep input under 16,384 tokens a sequence (8,192 on the 0.3B). The bundled server answers 413 when the questions alone don't fit
5. Set `VELA2_API_KEY` before binding the bundled server beyond 127.0.0.1, and keep the model runtime on a trusted network

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Decider or Vela 2.0?

Decider scores 69.5 (B) on agent readiness against Vela 2.0's 66.5 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Vela 2.0 leads on security & auth.

### Do Decider and Vela 2.0 need an API key?

Neither needs a key.

### Can an agent call Decider and Vela 2.0 without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Decider. No hosted endpoint is listed for Vela 2.0.

### Are Decider and Vela 2.0 open source?

Yes. Decider is open source (Apache-2.0 (code and weights)). Vela 2.0 is open source (Apache-2.0 (weights, code and documentation). The 0.3B's tokeniser keeps the Gemma Terms of Use, and training data keeps its own licences).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Decider or Vela 2.0

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