# Microsoft-Decision-1 vs Strands Decider 2B

> Strands Decider 2B scores 61.3 (C) to Microsoft-Decision-1's 39 (E) for decision models. Microsoft-Decision-1 is cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0 per 1M tokens. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-strands-decider
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-strands-decider.md (~2,850 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-strands-decider.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-strands-decider.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: 2026-10-10

Strands Decider 2B scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Microsoft-Decision-1's 39 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do decision models. Microsoft-Decision-1 is cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0 per 1M tokens.

- Microsoft-Decision-1: grade E, 39/100, rank #921 of 954. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-decision-1.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-decision-1.json
- Strands Decider 2B: grade C, 61.3/100, rank #472 of 954. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/strands-decider.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/strands-decider.json
- Best decision models for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/decision-models/index.md
- All 91 decisions comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-models/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Microsoft-Decision-1 (E)

Good 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

### Strands Decider 2B (C)

Good for: Cheap, local classification, routing, triage and tool-call checks on short text inside Strands or other Python agents, and for teams who want to retrain a decision model from a published recipe.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 50 against 30
- Schema & documentation, 76 against 43
- Agent ergonomics, 69 against 50
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 40
- Transparency & trust, 54 against 32

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source

Watch for: Version 0.1.0, described as experimental in its package metadata, with no changelog file


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Microsoft-Decision-1 | Strands Decider 2B | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 30 | 50 | Strands Decider 2B +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 43 | 76 | Strands Decider 2B +33 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 50 | 69 | Strands Decider 2B +19 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 52 | 49 | Microsoft-Decision-1 +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 60 | Strands Decider 2B +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 40 | 79 | Strands Decider 2B +39 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 32 | 54 | Strands Decider 2B +22 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **39 · E** | **61.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Microsoft-Decision-1 | Strands Decider 2B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Microsoft | Amazon Web Services (Strands Agents) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| Price for decision models | free | free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Not stated. The announcement and OpenRouter's model page name no licence, and no weights repository was found. | Apache-2.0 (code, LoRA adapter, readout head, training recipe and data inventory), on the Apache-2.0 Qwen3.5-2B-Base |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-09 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | no document linked |
| 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 reviews | none | 2/5 (1) |

## 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.

**Strands Decider 2B.** A 1.9B-parameter Apache-2.0 decision model that runs on a laptop GPU, an Apple silicon Mac or a CPU, with its training data, recipe and per-version results published. It's an experimental 0.1.0 release with a 4,096-token window that cuts long states by default, and its local server has no authentication.

## 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

### Strands Decider 2B

1. Pin the checkpoint by its full name, such as `StrandsAgents/strands-decider-2B-hobson-v21`, since each version is a separate Hugging Face repository
2. Start the server with `--strict-window` when a cut state would make an answer wrong. It then returns 422 naming the window
3. Ask every question about one state in one request. The state is read once and each question adds only its own tokens
4. Keep the server on 127.0.0.1 or put an authenticating proxy in front. It has no key option
5. Measure thresholds on your own traffic before acting automatically. The card says confidence bands hold for short classification only

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Microsoft-Decision-1 or Strands Decider 2B?

Strands Decider 2B scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Microsoft-Decision-1's 39 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Which is cheaper for decision models, Microsoft-Decision-1 or Strands Decider 2B?

Microsoft-Decision-1, at free against free for Strands Decider 2B. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

### Do Microsoft-Decision-1 and Strands Decider 2B need an API key?

Microsoft-Decision-1 takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Strands Decider 2B needs no key.

### Can an agent call Microsoft-Decision-1 and Strands Decider 2B without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Microsoft-Decision-1. No hosted endpoint is listed for Strands Decider 2B.

### Are Microsoft-Decision-1 and Strands Decider 2B open source?

No open-source release is listed for Microsoft-Decision-1. Strands Decider 2B is open source (Apache-2.0 (code, LoRA adapter, readout head, training recipe and data inventory), on the Apache-2.0 Qwen3.5-2B-Base).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-strands-decider.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-strands-decider.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "microsoft-decision-1", "b": "strands-decider"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare microsoft-decision-1 strands-decider`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-decision-1.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/strands-decider.json

## Other comparisons with Microsoft-Decision-1 or Strands Decider 2B

- [Celeris-1 Decision vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
- [Celeris-1 Decision vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-strands-decider.md)
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- [Decider vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
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- [GLiClass vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [Kev vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jaredpalmer-kev-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
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- [Liquid d1 vs Microsoft-Decision-1](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-microsoft-decision-1.md)
- [Liquid d1 vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs Drex 1.5](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-nace-drex.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs pplx-decider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-pplx-decider.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs Jev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-typesafe-jev.md)
- [Microsoft-Decision-1 vs Vela 2.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-vela.md)
- [Drex 1.5 vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nace-drex-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [OpenAI Decisions API vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-decisions-api-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [pplx-decider vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pplx-decider-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [Strands Decider 2B vs Jev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/strands-decider-vs-typesafe-jev.md)
- [Strands Decider 2B vs Vela 2.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/strands-decider-vs-vela.md)