# Granite Switch 4.1 vs Kev

> Kev scores 67.4 (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

Kev scores 67.4 (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.

- 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
- Kev: grade B, 67.4/100, rank #275 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/jaredpalmer-kev.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/jaredpalmer-kev.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

### 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 49
- Transparency & trust, 74 against 49

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

### Kev (B)

Good for: Self-hosted classification, routing, triage and rubric scoring where a probability matters, especially for teams already calling Jev who want the same API on their own hardware.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 73 against 46
- Schema & documentation, 77 against 55
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 66

Also in its favour:
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 3.0 out of 5

Watch for: No package. `pip install kev` installs an unrelated 2021 ORM, so Kev runs from a Git clone with uv


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Granite Switch 4.1 | Kev | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 46 | 73 | Kev +27 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 77 | Kev +22 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 78 | Kev +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 49 | Granite Switch 4.1 +5 |
| 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) | 81 | 83 | Kev +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 49 | Granite Switch 4.1 +25 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **59.4 · C** | **67.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Granite Switch 4.1 | Kev |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | IBM | Jared Palmer |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache 2.0 for the weights, the adapters and the repository | Apache-2.0 (code, adapters and weights) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-01 |
| 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 |  |  |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Kev.** Apache-2.0 code, adapters and heads on Apache-2.0 Qwen bases, with release tarballs and SHA-256 checksums for the 0.8B, 4B and 9B models. No package. `pip install kev` installs an unrelated 2021 ORM, so Kev runs from a Git clone with uv.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Kev

1. Install from the repository. The `kev` package on PyPI is an unrelated project
2. Pin a checkpoint with `@v1.0`, as in `jaredpalmer/kev-4b@v1.0`, so tuned thresholds keep their meaning
3. Keep states under 8,192 tokens on Kev-0.8B, 4B and 9B, or use Kev-27B for long documents
4. Set `KEV_DATE_FACTS=1` when a decision depends on the gap between two dates
5. Expect a 422 naming the token count when a state passes 65,536 tokens. The server refuses it instead of cutting it

## Tutorials

- [Classify a delivery problem with Kev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tutorials/jaredpalmer-kev/), for Kev

## Questions

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

Kev scores 67.4 (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 Granite Switch 4.1 and Kev need an API key?

Neither needs a key.

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

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

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

Yes. Granite Switch 4.1 is open source (Apache 2.0 for the weights, the adapters and the repository). Kev is open source (Apache-2.0 (code, adapters and weights)).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Granite Switch 4.1 or Kev

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

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