# Beam 1.0 vs SiliconFlow

> Beam 1.0 scores 53.4 (D) to SiliconFlow's 46.7 (D) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-siliconflow
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-siliconflow.md (~3,150 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-siliconflow.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-siliconflow.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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.
- Updated: 2026-10-17

Beam 1.0 scores 53.4 (D) on agent readiness against SiliconFlow's 46.7 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SiliconFlow leads on payments & pricing. Both do llm inference.

- Beam 1.0: grade D, 53.4/100, rank #786 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/reflection-beam.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/reflection-beam.json
- SiliconFlow: grade D, 46.7/100, rank #956 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/siliconflow.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/siliconflow.json
- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md
- All 326 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Beam 1.0 (D)

Good for: An OpenAI-compatible endpoint for a large open-weight coding and agent model, for builders who want the same model hosted or self-hosted under Apache-2.0.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 40 against 33
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 65
- Agent ergonomics, 67 against 60
- Security & auth, 46 against 39
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 51

Watch for: The API is a public beta with no SLA, and per-organisation rate limits and the daily allocation are not published as numbers

### SiliconFlow (D)

Good for: Agents that want recent open-weight chat models, plus image, video and speech, behind one OpenAI-style key at low per-token prices, and can live without a status page or SLA.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 20

Watch for: No status page, incident history or SLA was found, and the terms disclaim any uptime or availability commitment


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Beam 1.0 | SiliconFlow | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 33 | Beam 1.0 +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 65 | Beam 1.0 +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 60 | Beam 1.0 +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 46 | 39 | Beam 1.0 +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 35 | SiliconFlow +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 47 | Beam 1.0 +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 51 | Beam 1.0 +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **53.4 · D** | **46.7 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Beam 1.0 | SiliconFlow |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Reflection | SiliconFlow Labs Pte. Ltd. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.reflection.ai/openai/v1` | `https://api.siliconflow.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Weights under Apache-2.0. The hosted Reflection API is a closed service under Reflection AI, Inc.'s commercial terms of service | Proprietary service under the SiliconFlow Terms of Use |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-09-14 |
| Terms last updated |  | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | no date given |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | 2.5/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Beam 1.0.** The Reflection API is OpenAI-compatible, with an OpenAPI document, strict structured outputs and tool calls, and error codes that say when to retry, and the weights are Apache-2.0. It is a free public beta with unpublished daily limits and no per-token price, reasoning can't be turned off, and three API incidents were posted between 14 and 16 October 2026.

**SiliconFlow.** Per-token prices for every listed model are public, and one key reaches chat, embeddings, reranking, image, video and speech through OpenAI-style and Anthropic-style routes. No status page, SLA, security page or official SDK was found, release notes stop at 11 June 2026, and several model removals are dated the same day as their notice.

## Before you call either

### Beam 1.0

1. Send `reasoning_effort` `low` or `medium` for short tasks. The default is `max`, and `none` or `minimal` return `400 unsupported_value`
2. Return every assistant message with its `reasoning_content` unchanged. If a turn comes back without it, start a new conversation, since later requests fail with `missing_required_parameter`
3. Don't rely on `stop` or `seed`. Both are accepted and ignored, so truncate output in your own code
4. Honour `x-should-retry: false` on a 429. It means a daily limit is spent and `Retry-After` counts to 00:00 UTC
5. Set `max_completion_tokens` yourself on long prompts. The default budget isn't reduced to fit the prompt and includes reasoning tokens

### SiliconFlow

1. Set the OpenAI client's base URL to `https://api.siliconflow.com/v1`, or the Anthropic client's to `https://api.siliconflow.com/`, and send the key as a Bearer token
2. Take model ids from the model pages or `GET /v1/models`, not from the OpenAPI enum or the function calling guide, which list removed models
3. Check the `model` field of each response. On 11 June 2026 traffic for GLM-5 and Kimi-K2.5 was routed to successor models
4. Use `response_format` of `json_object` only where the model page says JSON Mode is supported, and keep `max_tokens` about 10,000 below the context length
5. Set the Claude Code environment variables by hand. The automated route pipes a script from an Amazon S3 bucket into bash

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Beam 1.0 or SiliconFlow?

Beam 1.0 scores 53.4 (D) on agent readiness against SiliconFlow's 46.7 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SiliconFlow leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Beam 1.0 and SiliconFlow need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Beam 1.0 and SiliconFlow without installing anything?

Yes. Beam 1.0 has a hosted endpoint at https://api.reflection.ai/openai/v1 and SiliconFlow at https://api.siliconflow.com/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Beam 1.0 or SiliconFlow

- [Claude API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Claude API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Antseed vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Antseed vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [DeepInfra vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Glimpse vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Glimpse vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [GroqCloud vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [GroqCloud vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Jais 3 vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Jais 3 vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Meta Model API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Meta Model API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Muse Spark Open vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Muse Spark Open vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Novita AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Novita AI vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [OpenAI API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [OpenAI API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [OpenRouter vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [OpenRouter vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Prism Inference vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Prism Inference vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-routerplus.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-stepfun-api.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)
- [RouterPlus vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [SambaCloud vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [SiliconFlow vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-stepfun-api.md)
- [SiliconFlow vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-siliconflow.md)

---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp