# Granite Switch 4.1 vs SPEV

> Granite Switch 4.1 scores 59.4 (C) to SPEV's 51.1 (D) for decision models. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-17

Granite Switch 4.1 scores 59.4 (C) on agent readiness against SPEV's 51.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SPEV leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics. 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
- SPEV: grade D, 51.1/100, rank #855 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sprag-spev.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sprag-spev.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 33
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 49
- Transparency & trust, 74 against 54

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

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

### SPEV (D)

Good for: Typed decisions over raw audio, such as end-of-turn detection, call triage and flagging, plus text and single images, hosted or self-hosted.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 55
- Agent ergonomics, 76 against 66

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: Published on 14 October 2026, with no service record, no status page and no API changelog


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Granite Switch 4.1 | SPEV | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 46 | 45 | Granite Switch 4.1 +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 81 | SPEV +26 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 76 | SPEV +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 33 | Granite Switch 4.1 +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 30 | Granite Switch 4.1 +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 81 | 49 | Granite Switch 4.1 +32 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 54 | Granite Switch 4.1 +20 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **59.4 · C** | **51.1 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Granite Switch 4.1 | SPEV |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | IBM | Sprag |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.sprag.ai/v1/decisions` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache 2.0 for the weights, the adapters and the repository | Apache-2.0 (weights and inference code, following the Qwen3-Omni base). Training code and data aren't published |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-14 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-09-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-08-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes, with an opt-out |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | none |

## 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.

**SPEV.** SPEV answers typed questions over text, audio or an image in one call, with a public OpenAPI schema and Apache-2.0 weights on Hugging Face. It is a day old, has an 8,192-token context, no status page or changelog, and Sprag's terms let it train on API content unless the customer opts out by email.

## 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

### SPEV

1. Send `model: "spev"` to `POST https://api.sprag.ai/v1/decisions` with a bearer key. `/v1/systemone` returns 410
2. Ask every question about one piece of evidence in one request. Answers come back in question order
3. Send audio as base64 in `input_audio` with `format`, not as a data URL, and at most one image across all messages
4. Keep evidence and questions under 8,192 tokens. Over the limit returns 400 `model_limit_exceeded`
5. Back off on 429 and 503 for `Retry-After` seconds. Limits are 60 requests a minute per organisation by default
6. Handle an answer of type `refusal`, which carries no probabilities

## Questions

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

Granite Switch 4.1 scores 59.4 (C) on agent readiness against SPEV's 51.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SPEV leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics.

### Do Granite Switch 4.1 and SPEV need an API key?

Granite Switch 4.1 needs no key. SPEV needs an API key.

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

No hosted endpoint is listed for Granite Switch 4.1. SPEV has a hosted endpoint at https://api.sprag.ai/v1/decisions.

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

Granite Switch 4.1 is open source (Apache 2.0 for the weights, the adapters and the repository). No open-source release is listed for SPEV.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Granite Switch 4.1 or SPEV

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

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