# Decision 3.0 vs pplx-decider

> Decision 3.0 and pplx-decider score within a point of each other for decision models, 63.1 and 62.9 out of 100. pplx-decider is cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0 per 1M tokens. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-3-vs-pplx-decider
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-3-vs-pplx-decider.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-3-vs-pplx-decider.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-3-vs-pplx-decider.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: 2026-10-12

Decision 3.0 and pplx-decider score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 63.1 (B) and 62.9 (B). pplx-decider leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do decision models. pplx-decider is cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0 per 1M tokens.

- Decision 3.0: grade B, 63.1/100, rank #413 of 965. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/decision-3.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/decision-3.json
- pplx-decider: grade B, 62.9/100, rank #423 of 965. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pplx-decider.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pplx-decider.json
- Best decision models for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/decision-models/index.md
- All 105 decisions comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-models/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Decision 3.0 (B)

Good for: Self-hosted typed decisions over screenshots, documents and short video as well as text, where open weights matter.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 25
- Maintenance & community, 82 against 62

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source

Watch for: Released on 10 October 2026, with five tagged releases of each model by 11 October

### pplx-decider (B)

Good for: High-volume classification, routing and rubric scoring over text and images where a team wants a low hosted price and the option to run the same weights itself.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 70
- Security & auth, 61 against 56
- Transparency & trust, 52 against 45

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0 per 1M tokens
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: The Decisions API was released in October 2026, so its incident record is days long, and Perplexity's FAQ says it gives no uptime guarantee


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Decision 3.0 | pplx-decider | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 58 | 61 | pplx-decider +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 90 | pplx-decider +20 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 76 | pplx-decider +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 61 | pplx-decider +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 25 | Decision 3.0 +35 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 62 | Decision 3.0 +20 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 52 | pplx-decider +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **63.1 · B** | **62.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Decision 3.0 | pplx-decider |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | vLLM Semantic Router Team | Perplexity |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/decisions` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| Price for decision models | free | free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 for the weights and the bundled runtime, built on Apache-2.0 Qwen3.5 and Qwen3.8 bases | Apache-2.0 for the published weights. The hosted Decisions API is a proprietary service |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | couldn't be read |

## Verdicts

**Decision 3.0.** Open Apache-2.0 decision models that read images and video as well as text and answer several typed questions in one call, with a probability per option and tagged Hub releases. They are two days old, need a GPU and `trust_remote_code`, drop Vela's set and span types, and publish no calibration figures.

**pplx-decider.** The hosted Decisions API has an OpenAPI description, typed questions, documented limits and a published price of $0.02 per million input tokens, and the v1.1 weights are public under Apache-2.0. The API is days old, the official Python SDK has no method for it, and the governing terms and privacy notice could not be read on 9 October 2026.

## Before you call either

### Decision 3.0

1. Pin a tag or commit with `revision=` when loading from the Hub. Each model had five tagged releases on 10 and 11 October
2. Send images and videos to `d3_server.py` as base64 data URLs only. The server refuses paths and http URLs with 422
3. Set `DECISION_API_KEY` before binding the bundled server beyond 127.0.0.1. It is open otherwise
4. Turn on `permutation_average=True` when routing must not depend on option order. It is off by default
5. Expect one request at a time from the bundled server. Use the router's model runtime for queued serving

### pplx-decider

1. Send `Authorization: Bearer`. A key in `x-api-key` returns 401 on this endpoint.
2. Set `model` on every request. A missing or unknown model returns 400, and the guide shows a `-latest` name rejected.
3. Resize images to 2,048 tiles of 32 by 32 pixels or fewer before sending. Larger images end in a 504 after about a minute.
4. Check the HTTP status before parsing an error. 404 and 405 have empty bodies, 504 can be HTML, and `error.code` changes type.
5. For the weights, use the repository's `autojev` code. The card says default causal inference does not reproduce the evaluated setup.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Decision 3.0 or pplx-decider?

Decision 3.0 and pplx-decider score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 63.1 (B) and 62.9 (B). pplx-decider leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and transparency & trust.

### Which is cheaper for decision models, Decision 3.0 or pplx-decider?

Decision 3.0, at free against free for pplx-decider. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

### Do Decision 3.0 and pplx-decider need an API key?

Decision 3.0 needs no key. pplx-decider needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Decision 3.0 and pplx-decider without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Decision 3.0. pplx-decider has a hosted endpoint at https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/decisions.

### Are Decision 3.0 and pplx-decider open source?

Decision 3.0 is open source (Apache-2.0 for the weights and the bundled runtime, built on Apache-2.0 Qwen3.5 and Qwen3.8 bases). No open-source release is listed for pplx-decider.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-3-vs-pplx-decider.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-3-vs-pplx-decider.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "decision-3", "b": "pplx-decider"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare decision-3 pplx-decider`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/decision-3.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pplx-decider.json

## Other comparisons with Decision 3.0 or pplx-decider

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