Side-by-side breakdowns of x402 against the payment rails it's most often compared to.
Stripe is a centralised payment processor; x402 is an open HTTP protocol. They are not direct competitors - many builders will use both - but they optimise for very different use cases.
L402 (formerly LSAT) is the Lightning-native payment protocol from Lightning Labs. x402 settles via EVM and Solana USDC flows. Both live on HTTP, both can gate APIs, but their economics and operational profiles differ.
PayPal is a long-established consumer payments network (founded 1998) built around human accounts, card funding, and buyer protection. x402 is a new HTTP protocol designed for machine-initiated, stablecoin-denominated API payments.
Solana Pay is a Solana-native payment specification for QR-code and URL-based USDC and SOL payments, primarily aimed at point-of-sale and consumer commerce. x402 is a chain-agnostic HTTP protocol aimed at machine-initiated API and agent payments. Both can settle USDC on Solana but they target very different use cases.
API keys are the default way to gate paid web services - issue a key, meter usage, bill monthly. x402 replaces that entire workflow with per-request stablecoin payments and no accounts at all. The trade-offs are operational, not philosophical.
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