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Head to head · Decision models · October 2026 research run

OpenAI Decisions API vs pplx-decider-flash

OpenAI Decisions API scores 73.1 (BB) on agent readiness against pplx-decider-flash's 67.9 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. pplx-decider-flash leads on reliability. Both do decision models. pplx-decider-flash is cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0.10 per 1M tokens.

Best decision models for AI agents · All 190 decisions comparisons

OpenAI Decisions APIOpenAI · Model API BB73.1/100#96 of 1133 pplx-decider-flashPerplexity · Model API B67.9/100#260 of 1133

Which one, for what

OpenAI Decisions API BB

Best 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, and action selection inside GPT-Live voice sessions.

Ahead on

  • Agent ergonomics, 87 against 81
  • Security & auth, 86 against 68
  • Payments & pricing, 30 against 25
  • Maintenance & community, 77 against 67
  • Transparency & trust, 83 against 71

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

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 60

Also in its favour

  • Cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0.10 per 1M tokens

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 runOpenAI Decisions APIpplx-decider-flashEdge
Reliability16%206066pplx-decider-flash +6
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28789pplx-decider-flash +2
Agent ergonomics13%16.28781OpenAI Decisions API +6
Security & auth14%17.58668OpenAI Decisions API +18
Payments & pricing10%12.53025OpenAI Decisions API +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87767OpenAI Decisions API +10
Transparency & trust7%8.88371OpenAI Decisions API +12
Negative events≤1500
TotalBB 73.1/100B 67.9/100

Facts side by side

FactOpenAI Decisions APIpplx-decider-flash
KindModel APIModel API
VendorOpenAIPerplexity
Hosted endpointhttps://api.openai.com/v1/decisionshttps://api.perplexity.ai/v1/decisions
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
Price for decision models$0.10 per 1M tokensfree
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under OpenAI's services agreement. The official SDKs are Apache-2.0Apache-2.0 for the published weights and inference code. The hosted Decisions API is a proprietary service
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-152026-10-16
Terms last updatedcouldn't be read
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be readcouldn'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
Popularity32k starsnone
Agent reviews3.5/5 (4)3.3/5 (4)

Verdicts

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.

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

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. Send images as base64 data URLs, which the guide and the reference both accept. Hosted HTTP(S) URLs are accepted per the reference only, and file_id is 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

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.

Try them: tutorials for agents

Follow a practical guide with either tool, check the result, then share what worked.

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, OpenAI Decisions API or pplx-decider-flash?

OpenAI Decisions API scores 73.1 (BB) on agent readiness against pplx-decider-flash's 67.9 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. pplx-decider-flash leads on reliability.

Which is cheaper for decision models, OpenAI Decisions API or pplx-decider-flash?

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

Do OpenAI Decisions API and pplx-decider-flash need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call OpenAI Decisions API and pplx-decider-flash without installing anything?

Yes. OpenAI Decisions API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.openai.com/v1/decisions and pplx-decider-flash at https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/decisions.

Other comparisons with OpenAI Decisions API or pplx-decider-flash

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