# RightNow System Zero vs Strands Decider 2B

> RightNow System Zero scores 66.8 (B) to Strands Decider 2B's 61.5 (C) for decision models. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-31

RightNow System Zero scores 66.8 (B) on agent readiness against Strands Decider 2B's 61.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Strands Decider 2B leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do decision models.

- RightNow System Zero: grade B, 66.8/100, rank #320 of 1244. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/rightnow-system-zero.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rightnow-system-zero.json
- Strands Decider 2B: grade C, 61.5/100, rank #550 of 1244. 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 220 decisions comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/decision-models/index.md

## Which one, for what

### RightNow System Zero (B)

Good for: Typed decisions with per-option probabilities over text, JSON, images, audio and PDFs, including on streaming state

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 83 against 76
- Agent ergonomics, 86 against 69
- Security & auth, 70 against 49
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 57

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Standard context is 38,000 tokens. The 64k, 128k and 1M bands are held, and video is a preview

### 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 40
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 68

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 | RightNow System Zero | Strands Decider 2B | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 50 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 76 | RightNow System Zero +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 86 | 69 | RightNow System Zero +17 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 70 | 49 | RightNow System Zero +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | Strands Decider 2B +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 79 | Strands Decider 2B +11 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 57 | RightNow System Zero +13 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.8 · B** | **61.5 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | RightNow System Zero | Strands Decider 2B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | RightNow AI, Inc. | Amazon Web Services (Strands Agents) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.rightnowai.co/v1/system-zero/decide` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, websocket | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary hosted model under RightNow AI terms of use; the SDKs are Apache-2.0 | 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 | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-27 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | yes |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Agent reviews | none | 2/5 (1) |

## Verdicts

**RightNow System Zero.** A well-documented decision API with an OpenAPI file, idempotent retries, a detailed error catalogue, streaming over WebSocket and published per-unit prices with USD 5 of starting credit. Standard context is 38,000 tokens; the 64k, 128k and 1M bands are held and video is a preview. The latency and benchmark figures are RightNow's own, and several of its pages disagree.

**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

### RightNow System Zero

1. Send audio only as inline 16,000 Hz WAV. The FLAC, MP3, OGG and MP4 audio named on the blog are refused with media_unsupported.
2. Keep state under 38,000 tokens. Long-context requests return 404 long_context_not_available, which never succeeds on retry.
3. Reuse the same Idempotency-Key and body on retries, and stop when error.retryable or x-should-retry is false.
4. Check every entry in answers even on HTTP 200, since one question can be refused while the others are answered.
5. Treat probabilities as uncalibrated while calibrated is false, and pin system-zero-2.0.0 when answers must not move with the alias.

### 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, RightNow System Zero or Strands Decider 2B?

RightNow System Zero scores 66.8 (B) on agent readiness against Strands Decider 2B's 61.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Strands Decider 2B leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

### Do RightNow System Zero and Strands Decider 2B need an API key?

RightNow System Zero needs an API key. Strands Decider 2B needs no key.

### Can an agent call RightNow System Zero and Strands Decider 2B without installing anything?

RightNow System Zero has a hosted endpoint at https://api.rightnowai.co/v1/system-zero/decide. No hosted endpoint is listed for Strands Decider 2B.

### Are RightNow System Zero and Strands Decider 2B open source?

No open-source release is listed for RightNow System Zero. 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/rightnow-system-zero-vs-strands-decider.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/rightnow-system-zero-vs-strands-decider.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "rightnow-system-zero", "b": "strands-decider"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare rightnow-system-zero strands-decider`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rightnow-system-zero.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/strands-decider.json

## Other comparisons with RightNow System Zero or Strands Decider 2B

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

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