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Head to head · Inference decision · October 2026 research run

OpenAI Decisions API vs Strands Decider 2B

OpenAI Decisions API scores 71.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Strands Decider 2B's 61.3 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Strands Decider 2B leads on payments & pricing. Both do inference decision.

OpenAI Decisions APIOpenAI · Model API BB71.5/100#93 of 578 Strands Decider 2BAmazon Web Services (Strands Agents) · Model API C61.3/100#293 of 578

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.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 76
  • Agent ergonomics, 87 against 69
  • Security & auth, 83 against 49
  • Transparency & trust, 83 against 54

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for

Public beta released on 6 October 2026. The guide expects general availability in the coming weeks and gives no date

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

  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 30

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

CategoryWeight this runOpenAI Decisions APIStrands Decider 2BEdge
Reliability16%205350OpenAI Decisions API +3
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28976OpenAI Decisions API +13
Agent ergonomics13%16.28769OpenAI Decisions API +18
Security & auth14%17.58349OpenAI Decisions API +34
Payments & pricing10%12.53060Strands Decider 2B +30
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87779Strands Decider 2B +2
Transparency & trust7%8.88354OpenAI Decisions API +29
Negative events≤1500
Total71.5 · BB61.3 · C

Facts side by side

FactOpenAI Decisions APIStrands Decider 2B
KindModel APIModel API
VendorOpenAIAmazon Web Services (Strands Agents)
Hosted endpointhttps://api.openai.com/v1/decisionsno (local only)
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyNone
PricingPay per useFree
Price for inference decision$0.10 per 1M tokensfree
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under OpenAI's services agreement. The official SDKs are Apache-2.0Apache-2.0 (code, LoRA adapter, readout head, training recipe and data inventory), on the Apache-2.0 Qwen3.5-2B-Base
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-062026-10-05
Terms last updatedcouldn't be readno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be readno document linked
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 reviewsnone2/5 (1)

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.

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

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

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, OpenAI Decisions API or Strands Decider 2B?

OpenAI Decisions API scores 71.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Strands Decider 2B's 61.3 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Strands Decider 2B leads on payments & pricing.

Which is cheaper for inference decision, OpenAI Decisions API or Strands Decider 2B?

Strands Decider 2B, 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 Strands Decider 2B need an API key?

OpenAI Decisions API needs an API key. Strands Decider 2B needs no key.

Can an agent call OpenAI Decisions API and Strands Decider 2B without installing anything?

OpenAI Decisions API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.openai.com/v1/decisions. No hosted endpoint is listed for Strands Decider 2B.

Are OpenAI Decisions API and Strands Decider 2B open source?

No open-source release is listed for OpenAI Decisions API. 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).

Other comparisons with OpenAI Decisions API or Strands Decider 2B

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