kint vs.
heuristic methods.
Heuristics find good solutions fast and scale to very large problems. They cannot tell you how far a solution is from the best possible one.
the strength of heuristicsSpeed on very large problemsScales further and returns a solution sooner.
the strength of kintPlan qualityThe solver reports the bound and the gap. At 0.0 %, no better plan exists for the model as stated, within the solver's tolerance.
kint · heuristics6 dimensions, both sides
Side by side
dimension by dimension.
Properties you can check, not benchmark claims. The last column says which approach fits better on that dimension.
| Dimension | kint | heuristics | Fits better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan quality | The solver reports the bound and the gap. At 0.0 %, no better plan exists for the model as stated, within the solver's tolerance. | A good solution with unknown distance to the optimum. | kint |
| Optimality gap | Bound and gap, stored with the run. | Not available without a bound from an exact method. | kint |
| Hard rules | Every constraint in the model holds in the result. | Depends on the method. Many treat rules as penalties that can be traded off. | kint |
| Speed on small problems | Fast. | Fast. | either |
| Speed on very large problems | May need time limits, then reports the remaining gap. | Scales further and returns a solution sooner. | heuristics |
| New rules | Add the rule to the model and run again. | Often requires redesigning the algorithm. | kint |
Choose heuristics when
heuristics: the better fit.
Speed matters far more than a quality bound, instances are huge, and nobody will ask how good the plan is.
Choose kint when
the decision has to be defended.
You need to know how good the plan is, every hard rule must hold, and the rules change over time.
Used together
kint uses heuristics too: as warm starts. The exact solver then improves the heuristic solution and bounds it, so you get the speed of one and the bound of the other.
Other comparisons
kint next to the other approaches.
- kint vs. manual planningspreadsheets and planner experience
- kint vs. custom developmentyour own optimization team and solver stack
- kint vs. general AI and MLLLMs and general machine learning
- kint vs. spreadsheet optimizationbuilt-in spreadsheet solvers and solver add-ins
heuristics and kint, on your decision.
Bring a plan your team made today. We put the kint plan next to it, with the binding limit of each, and you judge.
- All comparisons
- kint next to the alternatives
- Results
- Plan, binding limit, sensitivity, bound and gap, record
- Problem types
- the decisions kint solves
- contact
- hello@kint.pro