# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-openai-decisions-api
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-openai-decisions-api.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-openai-decisions-api.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-openai-decisions-api.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

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 d1: grade E, 43.5/100, rank #582 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/liquid-d1.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/liquid-d1.json
- OpenAI Decisions API: grade BB, 71.5/100, rank #102 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-decisions-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-decisions-api.json

## 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.

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

| Category | Weight | Liquid d1 | OpenAI Decisions API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 21 | 53 | OpenAI Decisions API +32 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 59 | 89 | OpenAI Decisions API +30 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 87 | OpenAI Decisions API +24 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 83 | OpenAI Decisions API +48 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 27 | 30 | OpenAI Decisions API +3 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 77 | OpenAI Decisions API +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 83 | OpenAI Decisions API +29 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **43.5 · E** | **71.5 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Liquid d1 | OpenAI Decisions API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Liquid AI | OpenAI |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.liquid.ai/decisions/v1/systemone` | `https://api.openai.com/v1/decisions` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for inference decision | not published | $0.10 per 1M tokens |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | The 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 published | Proprietary service under OpenAI's services agreement. The official SDKs are Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-30 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-30 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 32k 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.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-openai-decisions-api.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-openai-decisions-api.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "liquid-d1", "b": "openai-decisions-api"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare liquid-d1 openai-decisions-api`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/liquid-d1.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-decisions-api.json

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