# Iris-3B vs SurgePix API

> Iris-3B scores 51.3 (D) to SurgePix's 36 (F) for image generation. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/iris-3b-vs-surgepix
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- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- 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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- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-02

Iris-3B scores 51.3 (D) on agent readiness against SurgePix API's 36 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do image generation.

- Iris-3B: grade D, 51.3/100, rank #933 of 1266. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/iris-3b.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/iris-3b.json
- SurgePix API: grade F, 36/100, rank #1173 of 1266. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/surgepix.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/surgepix.json
- Best image generation for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/image-generation/index.md
- All 120 image comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/image-generation/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Iris-3B (D)

Good for: An agent on a machine with a CUDA GPU that needs Apache-2.0 image generation, relative depth or 4x restoration without a vendor account.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 45 against 15
- Schema & documentation, 47 against 40
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 20
- Transparency & trust, 52 against 28

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: No package on PyPI, no version tags, no changelog and no CI workflow. Install is a git clone and `pip install -e .`

### SurgePix API (F)

Good for: An agent that needs finished marketing assets, such as posters, slide decks, Xiaohongshu carousels, logos and translated images, as one file from a short request.

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

Watch for: Only background removal and upload are in the public API reference, with no OpenAPI file or llms.txt


## Why the edge

### Payments & pricing: Iris-3B +40

- Iris-3B (60): Free Apache-2.0 software with nothing to buy, so 20 + 20 + 20 for pricing, free use and no sign-up. No payment protocol (0). There is no hosted API. Hardware is the owner's cost.
- SurgePix API (20): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices and monthly credits are public, but credits are spent per token with no per-call price for any API task, so plan-only pricing (10). A free plan with 25 credits a day. The pages don't say whether a card is needed or whether a free account can create API keys, so half, a judgement call (10). A person signs up in a browser and creates the key in settings (0). 0+10+10+0 = 20.

### Reliability: Iris-3B +30

- Iris-3B (45): Read as local software, since Iris-3B is a model the owner runs. No package on PyPI. Install is a git clone and `pip install -e .`, with Python 3.11 or newer, PyTorch 2.7.1 or newer and an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA stated (12 of 20). The repository has 23 pytest files covering the model, flow, checkpoints and parallel training, but no CI workflow, so nothing shows them passing on main (5 of 25). Three GitHub issues in ten days, none a crash, two closed and one open announcing a community ComfyUI port. Six Hugging Face discussions, none a bug report (20 of 25). No tags, releases or changelog. Package version 0.1.0, and new checkpoints are added in folders of one Hub repository with no version pins (3 of 15). Released as a final checkpoint with no beta label, but the package is 0.1.0 and the project ten days old (5 of 15).
- SurgePix API (15): Read with the hosted lines. No status page was found on surgepix.ai or in the docs, and status.surgepix.ai doesn't resolve (0). With no history to read, the incident line takes the floor (5). No rate limits with numbers are documented. The terms say "non-human continuous or frequent query operations" lead to automatic account suspension, with no threshold given (0). No 429 or backoff guidance. The skill scripts poll every 2 seconds for up to 5 to 15 minutes, but that is client code, not a documented policy (0). No SLA, and the terms disclaim uninterrupted service (0). The API isn't labelled beta or preview, and API keys have been self-serve since 2 June 2026 per the changelog (10). 0+5+0+0+0+10 = 15.

### Transparency & trust: Iris-3B +24

- Iris-3B (52): Apache-2.0 for code and weights, with a NOTICE file, a third-party licence table and the full training and distillation recipe. The training images and the Turbo prompt sets are not released or named in the README or card (25 of 30). Self-hosted, so inputs stay on the owner's hardware, but we found no statement saying so and speridlabs.com has no privacy policy (15 of 30). No deprecation policy, version tags or pinned revisions (2 of 20). No telemetry calls found in the inference code. Training defaults to `report_to: wandb`, which sends run config and validation images to Weights & Biases, can be set to `none`, and is not mentioned in the README (8 of 20).
- SurgePix API (28): The editorial half. A closed service whose terms name no company or address. They restrict any commercial use of what the service produces without SurgePix's permission, and contain clauses from an unrelated product (a "big data" query platform and "non-resume content"). The skills are MIT. Unclear terms, with a little credit for the open skills (5). The privacy policy is dated both 10 June 2026 and 1 July 2022, describes WeChat and phone registration and "domestic servers", and gives no retention periods. The API reference says uploads go to Tencent Cloud storage in Seoul as public URLs. No DPA. The statements don't agree (5). No deprecation policy or notices, and the terms let changes take effect on publication without notice (0). Tencent Cloud Object Storage in ap-seoul is named in the API reference, and Alipay and WeChat Pay in the privacy policy. No subprocessor list or stated data location (4). 5+5+0+4 = 14.

### Schema & documentation: Iris-3B +7

- Iris-3B (47): Read for a model the owner runs through a CLI and a Python package. No server, OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract. The CLI uses argparse with typed flags and help text, and the Python functions carry type hints. The demo Spaces' Gradio API lists typed endpoints, but Speridlabs doesn't document it (8 of 25). No llms.txt. The README and model card are Markdown in each repository (5 of 10). The card and README state limits (unreliable rendered text and object counts, about one megapixel, depth relative not metric, Turbo's fixed schedule and lower seed variety) but not intended or out-of-scope uses (14 of 20). Flags are typed, with the size presets as an enum only in the Spaces. Height and width take any integer, though Turbo was distilled at seven sizes (9 of 15). Commands for every model and a tips table, but no documented errors (7 of 15). No versioning or changelog beyond dated commits (4 of 15).
- SurgePix API (40): No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract was found (0). surgepix.ai/llms.txt returns 404. The docs are HTML pages, but the 15 SKILL.md files in the MIT repository are Markdown written for agents, so half (5). The API reference states the purpose of each of its five operations and the async and session model. The SKILL.md files add trigger phrases and explicit do-not-use routing between skills, but 11 of the task endpoints the skills call appear only in their scripts, with no reference (10). Parameter tables give type and required for the documented operations, with no enums or limits, and the undocumented endpoints have no schema at all (7). JSON examples for every documented operation and an error table with 401, 404 and `error.file.sensitive_content` (10). A dated public changelog from 11 March 2026, but no version in the API path and no API-specific change notes (8). 0+5+10+7+10+8 = 40.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Iris-3B | SurgePix API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 15 | Iris-3B +30 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 47 | 40 | Iris-3B +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 54 | 53 | Iris-3B +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 41 | Iris-3B +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 20 | Iris-3B +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 66 | Iris-3B +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 52 | 28 | Iris-3B +24 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **51.3 · D** | **36 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Iris-3B | SurgePix API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Speridlabs | SurgePix |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.surgepix.ai/api` |
| Transports |  | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (code and weights) | Proprietary hosted service under the Surgepix User Agreement, which names no company and restricts commercial use without SurgePix's permission. The agent skills repository is MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-12 | 2026-10-23 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-06-10 |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 175 stars | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Iris-3B

- +0.4 on 27 October 2026: checklist

### SurgePix API

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Iris-3B.** Code and weights are Apache-2.0, and one Python package runs text-to-image, a 4-step Turbo, depth and 4x restoration from a documented CLI. It is ten days old, with no PyPI package, version tags, changelog or CI, needs an NVIDIA GPU and about 12 GB of weights, and has no server or API of its own.

**SurgePix API.** A small, readable API with async tasks and MIT skill scripts that cover posters, decks, edits and translation. Only background removal is documented, the terms name no company and restrict commercial use and automated querying, and uploaded files become public URLs.

## Before you call either

### Iris-3B

1. Check for an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA and Python 3.11 or newer before downloading. The base weights are about 12 GB, and Qwen3-VL-4B downloads on the first run
2. Exclude `depth/*`, `upscaler/*` and `turbo/*` in `hf download` unless those models are needed. Each of the first two adds about 12 GB
3. Don't pass `--steps`, `--cfg-scale`, `--negative-prompt`, `--order` or `--shift` with a Turbo checkpoint. The script exits with an error
4. Pass `--seed` to reproduce an image, and set `--outdir`, since files are named after the prompt and a repeat run overwrites them
5. Load only exported directories (`model.safetensors` and `config.yaml`). A training `.pth` is read with `torch.load(weights_only=False)`, so never load one from an untrusted source

### SurgePix API

1. Send the key as the raw `authorization` header value, with no `Bearer` prefix
2. Don't upload confidential files. The upload flow returns a public URL for every file
3. Check `code` in the JSON body as well as the HTTP status, since failures come back as a non-zero `code` with a `msg`
4. Poll `GET /tasks/{taskId}` within 24 hours, after which the task returns 404
5. Get written permission before using outputs commercially, since the terms restrict commercial use

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Iris-3B or SurgePix API?

Iris-3B scores 51.3 (D) on agent readiness against SurgePix API's 36 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Iris-3B and SurgePix API need an API key?

Iris-3B needs no key. SurgePix API needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Iris-3B and SurgePix API without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Iris-3B. SurgePix API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.surgepix.ai/api.

### Are Iris-3B and SurgePix API open source?

Iris-3B is open source (Apache-2.0 (code and weights)). No open-source release is listed for SurgePix API.


## For agents

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

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- [Iris-3B vs Qwen-Image 2.1 (Model Studio)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/iris-3b-vs-qwen-image-2-1.md)
- [Iris-3B vs Recraft API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/iris-3b-vs-recraft.md)
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- [Iris-3B vs Stability AI Image API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/iris-3b-vs-stability-ai-image.md)
- [Leonardo.Ai API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leonardo-ai-vs-surgepix.md)
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- [Qwen-Image 2.1 (Model Studio) vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-image-2-1-vs-surgepix.md)
- [Recraft API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/recraft-vs-surgepix.md)
- [Replicate image models vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-image-vs-surgepix.md)
- [Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/seedream-on-byteplus-modelark-vs-surgepix.md)
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