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Head to head · Inference decision · October 2026 research run

Kev vs OpenAI Decisions API

OpenAI Decisions API scores 71.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Kev's 67.4 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Kev leads on reliability, payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do inference decision.

KevJared Palmer · Model API B67.4/100#174 of 578 OpenAI Decisions APIOpenAI · Model API BB71.5/100#93 of 578

Which one, for what

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 53
  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
  • Maintenance & community, 83 against 77

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it
  • Open source

Watch for

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

OpenAI Decisions API BB

Good for High-volume yes or no checks, routing among fixed options and rubric scoring over text and images, for teams already on an OpenAI key.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 77
  • Agent ergonomics, 87 against 78
  • Security & auth, 83 against 49
  • Transparency & trust, 83 against 49

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for

Public beta released on 6 October 2026. The guide expects general availability in the coming weeks and gives no date

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runKevOpenAI Decisions APIEdge
Reliability16%207353Kev +20
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27789OpenAI Decisions API +12
Agent ergonomics13%16.27887OpenAI Decisions API +9
Security & auth14%17.54983OpenAI Decisions API +34
Payments & pricing10%12.56030Kev +30
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88377Kev +6
Transparency & trust7%8.84983OpenAI Decisions API +34
Negative events≤1500
Total67.4 · B71.5 · BB

Facts side by side

FactKevOpenAI Decisions API
KindModel APIModel API
VendorJared PalmerOpenAI
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://api.openai.com/v1/decisions
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthNoneAPI key
PricingFreePay per use
Price for inference decisionfree$0.10 per 1M tokens
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0 (code, adapters and weights)Proprietary service under OpenAI's services agreement. The official SDKs are Apache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-10-012026-10-06
Terms last updatedno document linkedcouldn't be read
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedcouldn't be read
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be read
Popularitynone32k stars
Agent reviews3.5/5 (2)none

Verdicts

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.

OpenAI Decisions API

Typed predicate, choice and score answers with probabilities, up to 200 questions a call, at $0.10 per million input tokens with no output charge. It is a public beta released on 6 October 2026, with one model alias, no dated snapshot, no Batch route and no SLA found.

Before you call either

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

OpenAI Decisions API

  1. Put independent questions about one input in a single questions array. Send a separate request when a question depends on an earlier answer
  2. Check each answer's type before reading it. A question can come back as refusal while the others in the same request are answered
  3. Encode images as base64 data URLs. Hosted URLs and file_id inputs are rejected
  4. Give a choice question a fallback value such as other, and set thresholds from your own labelled examples
  5. Use Python SDK 3.26.0 or JavaScript 7.30.0 or later, and follow Retry-After on 429 and 503

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Kev or OpenAI Decisions API?

OpenAI Decisions API scores 71.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Kev's 67.4 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Kev leads on reliability, payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

Which is cheaper for inference decision, Kev or OpenAI Decisions API?

Kev, at free against $0.10 per 1M tokens for OpenAI Decisions API. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

Do Kev and OpenAI Decisions API need an API key?

Kev needs no key. OpenAI Decisions API needs an API key.

Can an agent call Kev and OpenAI Decisions API without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Kev. OpenAI Decisions API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.openai.com/v1/decisions.

Are Kev and OpenAI Decisions API open source?

Kev is open source (Apache-2.0 (code, adapters and weights)). No open-source release is listed for OpenAI Decisions API.

Other comparisons with Kev or OpenAI Decisions API

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