# Glimpse vs Beam 1.0

> Beam 1.0 scores 53.4 (D) to Glimpse's 48.6 (D) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-reflection-beam.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
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- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
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- Updated: 2026-10-17

Beam 1.0 scores 53.4 (D) on agent readiness against Glimpse's 48.6 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Glimpse leads on security & auth and payments & pricing. Both do llm inference.

- Glimpse: grade D, 48.6/100, rank #915 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elorian-glimpse.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elorian-glimpse.json
- Beam 1.0: grade D, 53.4/100, rank #786 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/reflection-beam.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/reflection-beam.json
- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md
- All 326 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Glimpse (D)

Good for: Visual question answering, video captioning and counting over images and video at a low per-token price, where a research preview reached through OpenRouter is acceptable.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 56 against 46
- Payments & pricing, 25 against 20

Watch for: Labelled a research preview, with no public API docs, model card, changelog or deprecation policy from Elorian

### Beam 1.0 (D)

Good for: An OpenAI-compatible endpoint for a large open-weight coding and agent model, for builders who want the same model hosted or self-hosted under Apache-2.0.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 60
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 36

Watch for: The API is a public beta with no SLA, and per-organisation rate limits and the daily allocation are not published as numbers


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Glimpse | Beam 1.0 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 38 | 40 | Beam 1.0 +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 60 | 84 | Beam 1.0 +24 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 67 | Beam 1.0 +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 46 | Glimpse +10 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 20 | Glimpse +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 51 | 50 | Glimpse +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 36 | 68 | Beam 1.0 +32 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **48.6 · D** | **53.4 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Glimpse | Beam 1.0 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Elorian | Reflection |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://openrouter.ai/api/v1` | `https://api.reflection.ai/openai/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Closed model and service under the Elorian AI, Inc. terms of service (California law). Weights not released. | Weights under Apache-2.0. The hosted Reflection API is a closed service under Reflection AI, Inc.'s commercial terms of service |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated |  |  |
| Privacy policy last updated |  |  |
| 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 reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | 2.5/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Glimpse.** Glimpse reads images and video at $0.60 input and $3.00 output per million tokens, and OpenRouter serves it with tools, structured output and a 262,144-token context. It is a research preview with no public Elorian docs, model card or status page, and Elorian's terms allow training on submitted content unless a paid user opts out.

**Beam 1.0.** The Reflection API is OpenAI-compatible, with an OpenAPI document, strict structured outputs and tool calls, and error codes that say when to retry, and the weights are Apache-2.0. It is a free public beta with unpublished daily limits and no per-token price, reasoning can't be turned off, and three API incidents were posted between 14 and 16 October 2026.

## Before you call either

### Glimpse

1. Call it through OpenRouter as `elorian/glimpse` at https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions. Elorian's own API docs sit behind a console sign-in
2. Send video as a `video_url` content part, as a public URL or a base64 data URL. Batch requests are not available for this model
3. Set `max_tokens` yourself. The endpoint allows up to 256,000 output tokens, and visual reasoning spends many of them
4. Honour Retry-After on 429 and 503. With a single provider, a 503 means the Together deployment is unavailable, not that another host can take over
5. Treat counts and timestamps as unverified. Elorian's terms say outputs need independent human review before anyone relies on them

### Beam 1.0

1. Send `reasoning_effort` `low` or `medium` for short tasks. The default is `max`, and `none` or `minimal` return `400 unsupported_value`
2. Return every assistant message with its `reasoning_content` unchanged. If a turn comes back without it, start a new conversation, since later requests fail with `missing_required_parameter`
3. Don't rely on `stop` or `seed`. Both are accepted and ignored, so truncate output in your own code
4. Honour `x-should-retry: false` on a 429. It means a daily limit is spent and `Retry-After` counts to 00:00 UTC
5. Set `max_completion_tokens` yourself on long prompts. The default budget isn't reduced to fit the prompt and includes reasoning tokens

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Glimpse or Beam 1.0?

Beam 1.0 scores 53.4 (D) on agent readiness against Glimpse's 48.6 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Glimpse leads on security & auth and payments & pricing.

### Do Glimpse and Beam 1.0 need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Glimpse and Beam 1.0 without installing anything?

Yes. Glimpse has a hosted endpoint at https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 and Beam 1.0 at https://api.reflection.ai/openai/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Glimpse or Beam 1.0

- [Claude API vs Glimpse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-elorian-glimpse.md)
- [Claude API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Antseed vs Glimpse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-elorian-glimpse.md)
- [Antseed vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs Glimpse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-elorian-glimpse.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Glimpse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-elorian-glimpse.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Glimpse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-elorian-glimpse.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Glimpse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-elorian-glimpse.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Glimpse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-elorian-glimpse.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs Glimpse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-elorian-glimpse.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Glimpse vs Gemini Developer API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-gemini-api.md)
- [Glimpse vs GroqCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-groq.md)
- [Glimpse vs Jais 3](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-jais-3.md)
- [Glimpse vs Meta Model API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-meta-model-api.md)
- [Glimpse vs Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-mistral-api.md)
- [Glimpse vs Muse Spark Open](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-muse-spark-open.md)
- [Glimpse vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl.md)
- [Glimpse vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [Glimpse vs OpenAI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-openai-api.md)
- [Glimpse vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-openrouter.md)
- [Glimpse vs Prism Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-prism-inference.md)
- [Glimpse vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Glimpse vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Glimpse vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Glimpse vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-stepfun-api.md)
- [Glimpse vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
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- [Jais 3 vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Meta Model API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Muse Spark Open vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-reflection-beam.md)
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- [Prism Inference vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-stepfun-api.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-reflection-beam.md)

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