Pay-per-call
A pricing model where the client pays a fixed amount for each API request rather than a flat monthly subscription.
Related terms
- Micropayment - A very small payment, typically under one cent, enabled by low-fee chains and stablecoins - the core unit of x402 pay-per-call billing.
- API Monetization - The practice of charging for API access - x402 turns this into a per-request, account-free flow that works for both humans and agents.
Recent stories
BUILD
- x402station ships $1 Verified Badge - autonomous M2M trust layer flags 17% of x402 endpoints as non-functional · earezki.com
- Stripe Sessions 2026 ships Link Agent Wallet - x402 sits inside the 288-product agentic commerce stack · stripe.com
- Parallel Web Systems adds x402 to Search, Extract, and Deep Research APIs - $0.01 per call · docs.parallel.ai
- ChainAnalyzer ships x402 USDC payments on Base + Solana mainnet for its MCP server · dev.to
- DGrid AI adds x402 micropayments on BNB Chain - pay-per-call AI inference settled in USD1 within a single API request · cryptonews.net
MARKET
- OKX Ventures: x402 Daily Transactions Crater 92% from December Peak · blockchain.news
- 80% of Acquirers Say They’re Ready for Agentic Commerce · pymnts.com
- Two-Layer Payments Stack Emerging for AI-Native Transactions · en.cryptonomist.ch
- AI Agents Already Driving 10% of Revenue for Some Brands · fortune.com
- Circle: USDC Dominates AI Agent Payment Flows · en.sedaily.com