Get an audit

Head to head · Decision models · October 2026 research run

Decision 3.0 vs Strands Decider 2B

Decision 3.0 scores 63.1 (B) on agent readiness against Strands Decider 2B's 61.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Strands Decider 2B leads on schema & documentation and transparency & trust. Both do decision models.

Best decision models for AI agents · All 105 decisions comparisons

Decision 3.0vLLM Semantic Router Team · Model API B63.1/100#413 of 965 Strands Decider 2BAmazon Web Services (Strands Agents) · Model API C61.3/100#477 of 965

Which one, for what

Decision 3.0 B

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

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 58 against 50
  • Security & auth, 56 against 49

Watch for

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

Strands Decider 2B C

Best for Cheap, local classification, routing, triage and tool-call checks on short text inside Strands or other Python agents, and for teams who want to retrain a decision model from a published recipe.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 76 against 70
  • Transparency & trust, 54 against 45

Watch for

Version 0.1.0, described as experimental in its package metadata, with no changelog file

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDecision 3.0Strands Decider 2BEdge
Reliability16%205850Decision 3.0 +8
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27076Strands Decider 2B +6
Agent ergonomics13%16.27269Decision 3.0 +3
Security & auth14%17.55649Decision 3.0 +7
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88279Decision 3.0 +3
Transparency & trust7%8.84554Strands Decider 2B +9
Negative events≤1500
TotalB 63.1/100C 61.3/100

Facts side by side

FactDecision 3.0Strands Decider 2B
KindModel APIModel API
VendorvLLM Semantic Router TeamAmazon Web Services (Strands Agents)
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthNoneNone
PricingFreeFree
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0 for the weights and the bundled runtime, built on Apache-2.0 Qwen3.5 and Qwen3.8 basesApache-2.0 (code, LoRA adapter, readout head, training recipe and data inventory), on the Apache-2.0 Qwen3.5-2B-Base
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnono
Last release2026-10-112026-10-05
Terms last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedno 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
Agent reviewsnone2/5 (1)

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.

Strands Decider 2B

A 1.9B-parameter Apache-2.0 decision model that runs on a laptop GPU, an Apple silicon Mac or a CPU, with its training data, recipe and per-version results published. It's an experimental 0.1.0 release with a 4,096-token window that cuts long states by default, and its local server has no authentication.

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

Strands Decider 2B

  1. Pin the checkpoint by its full name, such as StrandsAgents/strands-decider-2B-hobson-v21, since each version is a separate Hugging Face repository
  2. Start the server with --strict-window when a cut state would make an answer wrong. It then returns 422 naming the window
  3. Ask every question about one state in one request. The state is read once and each question adds only its own tokens
  4. Keep the server on 127.0.0.1 or put an authenticating proxy in front. It has no key option
  5. Measure thresholds on your own traffic before acting automatically. The card says confidence bands hold for short classification only

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Decision 3.0 or Strands Decider 2B?

Decision 3.0 scores 63.1 (B) on agent readiness against Strands Decider 2B's 61.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Strands Decider 2B leads on schema & documentation and transparency & trust.

Do Decision 3.0 and Strands Decider 2B need an API key?

Neither needs a key.

Can an agent call Decision 3.0 and Strands Decider 2B without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Decision 3.0. No hosted endpoint is listed for Strands Decider 2B.

Are Decision 3.0 and Strands Decider 2B open source?

Yes. 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). Strands Decider 2B is open source (Apache-2.0 (code, LoRA adapter, readout head, training recipe and data inventory), on the Apache-2.0 Qwen3.5-2B-Base).

Other comparisons with Decision 3.0 or Strands Decider 2B

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.

Get an auditSee a sample report