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Head to head · Decision models · October 2026 research run

Microsoft-Decision-1 vs pplx-decider-flash

pplx-decider-flash scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft-Decision-1's 38.8 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do decision models. Microsoft-Decision-1 is cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0 per 1M tokens.

Best decision models for AI agents · All 190 decisions comparisons

Microsoft-Decision-1Microsoft · Model API E38.8/100#1046 of 1133 pplx-decider-flashPerplexity · Model API B67.9/100#260 of 1133

Which one, for what

Microsoft-Decision-1 E

Best for Routing, classification, prioritisation and rubric checks over text, where a fixed set of options and a low price per token matter more than generated text.

Also in its favour

  • Cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0 per 1M tokens

Watch for

Public preview only. Microsoft's post gives no general availability date and states no licence for the hosted model

pplx-decider-flash B

Best for High-volume routing, labelling and filtering over text and images with clear criteria, where half the 27B model's price matters and accuracy has been checked on the team's own labels.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 66 against 30
  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 43
  • Agent ergonomics, 81 against 50
  • Security & auth, 68 against 52
  • Payments & pricing, 25 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 67 against 40
  • Transparency & trust, 71 against 29

Also in its favour

  • Cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0 per 1M tokens
  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.3 against 2.8 out of 5

Watch for

Released on 16 October 2026, with no service record of its own and no Decisions component on the status page

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runMicrosoft-Decision-1pplx-decider-flashEdge
Reliability16%203066pplx-decider-flash +36
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.24389pplx-decider-flash +46
Agent ergonomics13%16.25081pplx-decider-flash +31
Security & auth14%17.55268pplx-decider-flash +16
Payments & pricing10%12.52025pplx-decider-flash +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84067pplx-decider-flash +27
Transparency & trust7%8.82971pplx-decider-flash +42
Negative events≤1500
TotalE 38.8/100B 67.9/100

Facts side by side

FactMicrosoft-Decision-1pplx-decider-flash
KindModel APIModel API
VendorMicrosoftPerplexity
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/decisions
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
Price for decision modelsfreefree
x402nono
LicenceNot stated. The announcement and OpenRouter's model page name no licence, and no weights repository was found.Apache-2.0 for the published weights and inference code. The hosted Decisions API is a proprietary service
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-10-092026-10-16
Terms last updatedno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedno date givencouldn't be read
Customer content may train models
Terms restrict automated access
Terms restrict benchmarking
Terms or service can change without notice
Arbitration or class-action waiver
Agent reviews2.8/5 (4)3.3/5 (4)

Verdicts

Microsoft-Decision-1

Microsoft publishes $0.042 per million input tokens, with output free, and the model is callable through Microsoft Foundry and OpenRouter. It is in public preview. No licence, model-specific retention statement, rate limit or deprecation policy was found, and the Foundry route needs an Azure deployment and an Entra token. Latency and accuracy figures are Microsoft's claims.

pplx-decider-flash

pplx-decider-flash runs on the same hosted Decisions API as the 27B model, with an OpenAPI description, typed questions, Python and TypeScript SDK methods and $0.01 per million input tokens, and its weights are public under Apache-2.0. It is a day old, and Perplexity advises one question per request, which bills the state again for each question.

Before you call either

Microsoft-Decision-1

  1. Use OpenRouter's Decisions method, not an OpenAI chat-completions SDK. OpenRouter says chat completions SDKs will not work with this model
  2. On Foundry, send the request to the deployment's /providers/microsoft/v1/systemone path with a Microsoft Entra token for https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default, not an API key
  3. Take the deployment name from the Foundry quickstart before the first call. Microsoft says to confirm the route and authentication header, and the pages reviewed do not give the name
  4. Keep each request within OpenRouter's 32,768-token context and send only fixed options, since the model is not intended for open-ended generation
  5. Measure latency and calibration on your own labelled cases before relying on Microsoft's latency and 'nine times out of 10' statements

pplx-decider-flash

  1. Send Authorization: Bearer with model set to pplx-decider-flash-v1.2. A key in x-api-key returns 401.
  2. Send one question per request by default. Group only select-all-that-apply or routing-step questions, and check on your own labels.
  3. Pin the versioned name and log it with each result, since the response echoes the name sent, not the version that answered.
  4. Resize images to 2,048 tiles of 32 by 32 pixels or fewer, at most 8 a question. Larger images end in a 504 after about a minute.
  5. Compare it with pplx-decider-v1.2 on a labelled sample at your thresholds before choosing it.

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Microsoft-Decision-1 or pplx-decider-flash?

pplx-decider-flash scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft-Decision-1's 38.8 (E), and leads in every scored category.

Which is cheaper for decision models, Microsoft-Decision-1 or pplx-decider-flash?

Microsoft-Decision-1, at free against free for pplx-decider-flash. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

Do Microsoft-Decision-1 and pplx-decider-flash need an API key?

Microsoft-Decision-1 takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. pplx-decider-flash needs an API key.

Can an agent call Microsoft-Decision-1 and pplx-decider-flash without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Microsoft-Decision-1. pplx-decider-flash has a hosted endpoint at https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/decisions.

Other comparisons with Microsoft-Decision-1 or pplx-decider-flash

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