# OpenAI Decisions API vs pplx-decider-flash

> OpenAI Decisions scores 73.1 (BB) to pplx-decider-flash's 67.9 (B) for decision models. pplx-decider-flash is cheaper for decision models, $0 against $0.10 per 1M tokens. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-17

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.

- OpenAI Decisions API: grade BB, 73.1/100, rank #96 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-decisions-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-decisions-api.json
- pplx-decider-flash: grade B, 67.9/100, rank #260 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pplx-decider-flash.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pplx-decider-flash.json
- Best decision models for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/decision-models/index.md
- All 190 decisions comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-models/index.md

## Which one, for what

### 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, 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)

Good 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

| Category | Weight | OpenAI Decisions API | pplx-decider-flash | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 66 | pplx-decider-flash +6 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 89 | pplx-decider-flash +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 81 | OpenAI Decisions API +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 86 | 68 | OpenAI Decisions API +18 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 25 | OpenAI Decisions API +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 67 | OpenAI Decisions API +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 71 | OpenAI Decisions API +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **73.1 · BB** | **67.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenAI Decisions API | pplx-decider-flash |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | OpenAI | Perplexity |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.openai.com/v1/decisions` | `https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/decisions` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for decision models | $0.10 per 1M tokens | free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under OpenAI's services agreement. The official SDKs are Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 for the published weights and inference code. The hosted Decisions API is a proprietary service |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-15 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read |  |
| Popularity | 32k stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (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.

## Tutorials

- [Route an invoice question with OpenAI Decisions](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tutorials/openai-decisions-api/), for OpenAI Decisions API

## 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.


## For agents

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

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

- [Celeris-1 Decision vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Celeris-1 Decision vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/celeris-1-decision-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Clef vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Clef vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clef-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Laya vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convai-laya-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Laya vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convai-laya-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Decider vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Decider vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decider-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Decision 3.0 vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-3-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Decision 3.0 vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-3-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [GLiClass vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [GLiClass vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gliclass-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Granite Switch 4.1 vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/granite-switch-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Kev vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jaredpalmer-kev-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Kev vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jaredpalmer-kev-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Liquid d1 vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Liquid d1 vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/liquid-d1-vs-pplx-decider-flash.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-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-decision-1-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [Drex 1.5 vs OpenAI Decisions API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nace-drex-vs-openai-decisions-api.md)
- [Drex 1.5 vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nace-drex-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)
- [OpenAI Decisions API vs pplx-decider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-decisions-api-vs-pplx-decider.md)
- [OpenAI Decisions API vs ScaleDown](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-decisions-api-vs-scaledown.md)
- [OpenAI Decisions API vs SPEV](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-decisions-api-vs-sprag-spev.md)
- [OpenAI Decisions API vs kettei](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-decisions-api-vs-sqwish-kettei.md)
- [OpenAI Decisions API vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-decisions-api-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [OpenAI Decisions API vs Jev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-decisions-api-vs-typesafe-jev.md)
- [OpenAI Decisions API vs Vela 2.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-decisions-api-vs-vela.md)
- [pplx-decider-flash vs ScaleDown](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pplx-decider-flash-vs-scaledown.md)
- [pplx-decider-flash vs SPEV](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pplx-decider-flash-vs-sprag-spev.md)
- [pplx-decider-flash vs kettei](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pplx-decider-flash-vs-sqwish-kettei.md)
- [pplx-decider-flash vs Strands Decider 2B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pplx-decider-flash-vs-strands-decider.md)
- [pplx-decider-flash vs Jev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pplx-decider-flash-vs-typesafe-jev.md)
- [pplx-decider-flash vs Vela 2.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pplx-decider-flash-vs-vela.md)
- [pplx-decider vs pplx-decider-flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pplx-decider-vs-pplx-decider-flash.md)

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