x402 Alternatives
Open protocol for paying per request over HTTP 402, used by AI agents to pay APIs in stablecoins
x402 is an open standard for paying over HTTP. A server answers a request with 402 Payment Required and its price; the client pays (usually in USDC) and retries with proof of payment.
Explore 11 alternatives to x402 across 1 category. Updated November 2026.
Top x402 alternatives at a glance
- Openspender. Payment router for AI agents: pay per request across LLM APIs and tools from a self-custodial wallet
- Crossmint. Agent wallets, virtual cards with spend limits and a checkout API for AI agents paying in fiat or stablecoins
- looot. One key and one prepaid balance for an AI agent to call 90+ data providers per call, priced before each run
- Catena. Governance and banking for AI agents: per-agent identities, spending policies, approvals and an audit trail
- Locus. One balance for 17,900+ agent tools, billed to each of your customers with your markup and per-key budgets
Compare x402 with its alternatives
| Product | Pricing Model | Free Tier | Open Source | Hosting | HQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x402 | Free | ✓ | ✓ APACHE-2.0 | — | — |
| Openspender | Pay-per-use | ✓ | — | Cloud | — |
| Crossmint | Pay-per-use | ✓ | — | Cloud | — |
| looot | — | — | — | Cloud | — |
| Catena | — | — | — | Cloud | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
| Locus | Pay-per-use | — | — | Cloud | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
| Natural | Freemium | ✓ | — | Cloud | — |
| Nevermined | Freemium | ✓ | — | Cloud | ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland |
| MPP (Machine Payments Protocol) | Free | ✓ | ✓ APACHE-2.0 | — | — |
| Anyway | Pay-per-use | — | — | Cloud | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
| Skyfire | — | — | — | Cloud | — |
| Sapiom | — | — | — | Cloud | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
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