Agentic payments
Agentic payments, compared without the hype.
AI agents are starting to hold wallets, pay for APIs and complete checkouts on behalf of people and businesses. PSP Dex tracks the platforms and protocols behind that shift, with verified pricing, custody models and spend controls, so you can compare them on facts instead of launch posts.
What are agentic payments?
Agentic payments are payments that an AI agent initiates and completes on behalf of a person or a business, inside limits the owner sets in advance. The shift is where approval happens. Instead of a human approving every transaction at a checkout, the human approves a mandate: a budget, a set of allowed merchants or services, and an expiry. The agent then pays inside that mandate, and every payment can be traced back to it.
Three pieces have to exist before an agent can pay safely:
- Authority. A mandate or scoped credential that proves what the agent is allowed to spend, where, and for how long.
- A way to pay that does not expose the owner. Tokenized card credentials, single-use virtual cards, or a funded stablecoin wallet, never the raw card number or bank login.
- Identity. The merchant, API provider or network has to tell a legitimate agent from a bot. This is the job of agent identity systems, often called Know Your Agent (KYA), and of signed agent traffic.
Agentic commerce is the wider journey: an agent discovering products, comparing them and ordering. Agentic payments are the money movement inside that journey. This hub covers the payment layer.
How an agentic payment works
- The owner sets the rules: spend cap, allowed merchants or endpoints, expiry, and whether a human approves anything above a threshold.
- The agent hits a paywall or checkout: an API returns HTTP 402, or a store presents a checkout the agent can complete.
- The agent presents a scoped credential: a signed stablecoin payment, a shared payment token, a one-time card credential, or a platform token scoped to that seller and amount.
- The network, facilitator or platform verifies the credential against the mandate before any money moves.
- Settlement happens on the chosen rail: instantly for stablecoin payments, on normal card timing for tokenized card payments.
- The owner can revoke the mandate at any time, and the agent's next payment simply fails.
The comparison matrix
Every provider and protocol in this category, on the fields that actually differ. Full detail sits in the linked profiles and guides.
| Platform / protocol | Type | Protocols | Rails | Agent identity | Custody | Spend controls | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crossmint | Platform | x402, MPP, AP2 (claimed) | USDC, cards, bank onramps | Verifiable agent credentials (W3C) | Non-custodial agent wallets; configurable platform-wide | Onchain spend caps, allowed counterparties, time windows, human approval thresholds | Free up to 1,000 monthly active wallets; payment fees per transaction, percentage not published |
| Nevermined | Platform | x402, MPP, AP2 compatible | Cards via Visa Intelligent Commerce, USDC, Stripe settlement | DID plus agent wallet (blog-described) | Delegated card vaulted by VGS; agent never sees the number | Mandate: amount, purchase count, expiry; instant revocation | Published: buyers 2% on external services; merchants 1% stablecoin, 2% card rails |
| Skyfire | Platform | Proprietary (kya, pay, kya-pay tokens) | USDC, card funding, card networks at checkout | KYA is the core product | Custodial wallet managed by Skyfire | Token scoped to seller, amount and timeframe; 10 seconds to 24 hours expiry | Not published |
| ATXP | Platform | Proprietary IOU layer; compatibility with x402, ACP, AP2 claimed | Pre-funded IOU balance, USDC via x402 wallets | Persistent agent identity, email and credentials | Agent account balance; custody label not published | Balance is the hard cap; per-category limits | Free account, no subscription; platform fee not published |
| Coinbase Agentic Wallet | Product (Coinbase) | x402 | USDC on Base, Polygon, Solana | Email OTP identity; KYT and OFAC screening | Wallet controlled by the agent; keys held in Coinbase infrastructure | Per-call and per-session spend limits | Covered in the platform guide, no standalone profile |
| Stripe | Platform (already listed) | MPP (co-author), ACP, x402 support | Cards, stablecoins, BNPL via Shared Payment Tokens | Link agent wallet; agent traffic signals | Merchant of record stays the business; Issuing virtual cards | SPT limits (currency, max amount, expiry); Issuing category and amount controls | Standard Stripe pricing applies; MPP minimums: $0.50 card, 0.01 USDC stablecoin |
| Catena Labs | Platform (building) | ACK (open source); ACK-Pay supports x402 pattern | Cards, ACH, wires, stablecoins (claimed) | ACK-ID: DIDs and verifiable credentials (KYA) | Not published | Deterministic policies and audit trails (claimed) | Not published |
| AgentaOS | Merchant of record plus agent payments | x402 | Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, bank transfer, USDC and EURC payouts | Agent wallets with sub-accounts and policies (Guardian, private preview) | Merchant of record; on-chain agent wallets | Spending policies and limits on every agent-wallet transaction | Published: cards 4.5% + EUR 0.50 pay as you go; x402 agent payments 1% flat |
| Dodo Payments | Merchant of record | None of x402/AP2 (its own docs say so); MCP tooling for billing | Cards, wallets, local methods, ACH and SEPA debit, stablecoins at checkout | None published | Merchant of record; no agent wallets | Not applicable (seller-side billing) | Published: 4% + 40c standard |
| x402 | Protocol | HTTP 402 standard | Stablecoins, primarily USDC; any ERC-20 or SPL token | None built in (pairs with identity layers) | Wallet-based | Set by the wallet or platform on top | Zero protocol fees; Coinbase facilitator: first 1,000 settlements/month free, then $0.001 each |
| AP2 | Protocol (Google, donated to FIDO Alliance) | Mandates over A2A and MCP | Cards, stablecoins, real-time bank transfers | Signed mandates and verifiable credentials | Set by the wallet or provider | Intent Mandate and Cart Mandate with price limits and conditions | Open protocol, no protocol fee published |
| ACP | Protocol (OpenAI + Stripe) | Checkout spec plus Delegated Payments | Existing merchant card rails via the merchant's PSP | Shared Payment Tokens with risk signals | Merchant keeps its own PSP and settlement | SPT usage limits: currency, maximum amount, expiration | Open protocol |
| MPP | Protocol (Stripe + Tempo) | HTTP 402 machine payments | Cards, stablecoins, BNPL via SPTs | Via SPTs and platform checks | Set by the provider | Session-based limits; per-payment authorization | Open protocol; Stripe minimums above apply on Stripe |
| Visa Trusted Agent Protocol | Identity framework | HTTP Message Signatures, Web Bot Auth | Any payment method the agent carries | Cryptographic agent signatures: intent, consumer recognition, payment info | Not a payment rail | Merchant decides which signed agents to accept | Open framework |
| Mastercard Agent Pay | Network program | Agentic Tokens on card rails | Mastercard card rails | Registered, verified agent transactions; Web Bot Auth | Tokenized credentials; card number never exposed | User-defined permissions and limits per interaction | Network program, no public fee schedule |
Which route fits which job?
- Your agent pays for APIs and data per call: x402 or MPP, through Crossmint, Nevermined, ATXP or a Coinbase Agentic Wallet. Read how AI agents pay.
- Your agent buys from normal online stores: card-based delegation, meaning Nevermined on Visa rails, Crossmint Agent Cards, or Stripe's Link agent wallet and Issuing for agents.
- You sell to agents: make your API or store payable via x402 or MPP, or list in agent catalogs. The best agentic payment platforms guide compares the seller side too.
- You need identity before money: Skyfire's KYA tokens, Catena's ACK-ID, AP2 mandates and Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol solve related but different layers. The protocol comparison separates them.
Providers in this category
Link each profile as it is added: Skyfire, Nevermined, ATXP, Crossmint, Catena Labs, Dodo Payments, Creem, AgentaOS, plus the existing Stripe profile. Browse everything in the processor directory, or compare the stablecoin rails on the crypto payments hub.
FAQ
What is the difference between agentic payments and agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce is the full buying journey an agent handles, from discovery to after-sales. Agentic payments are the payment step inside it: the mandate, the credential and the settlement.
Do AI agents need a bank account?
Not usually. Most setups use a funded stablecoin wallet, a tokenized card credential, or a platform balance. Catena Labs is building agent banking with accounts; most live platforms today plug agents into wallets and card tokens instead.
What is Know Your Agent (KYA)?
The agent equivalent of KYC: verifying which agent is acting, who its owner is, and what it is authorized to do. Skyfire builds its product on KYA tokens; Catena's ACK-ID uses decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials; AP2 proves authorization through signed mandates.
Are agentic payments safe?
They are designed around scoped authority: spending caps, merchant allowlists, expiry and instant revocation, so a compromised or misbehaving agent can only spend inside its mandate. The risk shifts from credential theft to mandate design, which is why the controls column in the matrix matters more than the rail.
Method
Provider and protocol facts on this page were checked against each company's own published documentation and pricing pages on 27 October 2026. Where a company does not publish pricing, the matrix says so instead of estimating. PSP Dex does not rank itself, and no provider pays for placement in this matrix.
