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Head to head · Inference decision · October 2026 research run

Liquid d1 vs OpenAI Decisions API

OpenAI Decisions API scores 71.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Liquid d1's 43.5 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do inference decision.

Liquid d1Liquid AI · Model API E43.5/100#532 of 578 OpenAI Decisions APIOpenAI · Model API BB71.5/100#93 of 578

Which one, for what

Liquid d1 E

Good for Classification, routing, yes or no gates and rubric scoring over text and images at a low per-token price, or on your own hardware with d1-3B where data can't leave.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

The terms of 30 September 2026 allow Liquid to train on API content, with no opt-out or zero-retention option found

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

  • Reliability, 53 against 21
  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 59
  • Agent ergonomics, 87 against 63
  • Security & auth, 83 against 35
  • Maintenance & community, 77 against 60
  • Transparency & trust, 83 against 54

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

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 runLiquid d1OpenAI Decisions APIEdge
Reliability16%202153OpenAI Decisions API +32
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.25989OpenAI Decisions API +30
Agent ergonomics13%16.26387OpenAI Decisions API +24
Security & auth14%17.53583OpenAI Decisions API +48
Payments & pricing10%12.52730OpenAI Decisions API +3
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86077OpenAI Decisions API +17
Transparency & trust7%8.85483OpenAI Decisions API +29
Negative events≤1500
Total43.5 · E71.5 · BB

Facts side by side

FactLiquid d1OpenAI Decisions API
KindModel APIModel API
VendorLiquid AIOpenAI
Hosted endpointhttps://api.liquid.ai/decisions/v1/systemonehttps://api.openai.com/v1/decisions
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumPay per use
Price for inference decisionnot published$0.10 per 1M tokens
x402nono
LicenceThe hosted d1 model is proprietary under Liquid AI's terms of service. The d1-3B and d1-omni-600M weights and model code are under the LFM Open Licence v1.0, which is based on Apache-2.0 and conditions commercial use on annual revenue under $10 million. Training code and data aren't publishedProprietary service under OpenAI's services agreement. The official SDKs are Apache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-072026-10-06
Terms last updated2026-09-30couldn't be read
Privacy policy last updated2026-09-30couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsyescouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textcouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textcouldn't be read
Popularitynone32k stars

Verdicts

Liquid d1

The hosted API costs $0.04 per million input tokens and takes TypeSafe's System One request, and the d1-3B weights run locally through Transformers or llama.cpp. Liquid's terms allow it to train on API content, and no status page, rate limits or error reference were found. The family launched between 22 September and 7 October 2026.

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

Liquid d1

  1. POST to https://api.liquid.ai/decisions/v1/systemone with a liquid_ key as a Bearer header. This is not a chat-completions endpoint
  2. Use d1 for images. d1:free is text-only and answers that it does not accept images
  3. Send images as Base64 data URLs in images, at most 8, with the whole JSON body under 4.5 MB. Remote image URLs are refused
  4. Budget tokens per question. Each question is billed as its own prompt, with its text and every image counted again
  5. Don't send confidential content to the hosted API, since the terms allow training on it. Run d1-3B locally for that data

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, Liquid d1 or OpenAI Decisions API?

OpenAI Decisions API scores 71.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Liquid d1's 43.5 (E), and leads in every scored category.

Do Liquid d1 and OpenAI Decisions API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Liquid d1 and OpenAI Decisions API without installing anything?

Yes. Liquid d1 has a hosted endpoint at https://api.liquid.ai/decisions/v1/systemone and OpenAI Decisions API at https://api.openai.com/v1/decisions.

Other comparisons with Liquid d1 or OpenAI Decisions API

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