# Agent checkout and mandate protocols

> 2 agent checkout protocols ranked by the Anchor benchmark. Leader Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) (C). Protocols for an agent buying goods or services on a person's behalf, with mandates that prove what the person approved. AP2 and ACP compared on governance, what a merchant has to build, how consent is captured and how disputes work.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/checkout-protocols
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/checkout-protocols.md (~950 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/checkout-protocols.min.md (~280 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/checkout-protocols.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

Protocols for an agent buying goods or services on a person's behalf, with mandates that prove what the person approved. AP2 and ACP compared on governance, what a merchant has to build, how consent is captured and how disputes work.

- Tools ranked: 2 · agent-ready (BB or better): 0 · accept x402: 0 · hosted endpoints: 0 · desk reviews by the panel: 4
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools.json (list) · https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/rankings.json (ranked) · https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/x402.json (payable) · https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/capabilities.json (by capability)
- Grades run AA, A, BB, B, C, D, E, F · methodology: https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/

- Capabilities in this category: payments.protocol, payments.mandate, payments.card-token, payments.checkout
- https://letme.dev/payments.protocol picks the top-graded tool in this list and says how to call it direct; calling through letme comes later (https://www.anchorterminal.com/letme/index.md)

## Ranking

| # | Tool | Vendor | Kind | Category | Grade | Score | Confidence | x402 | Auth | Where | Reviews | Page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| not ranked, protocol | Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) | OpenAI and Stripe | Payment protocol | Checkout | C | 60.9 | medium | no | API key | spec | 2/5 (2) | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/acp.md |
| not ranked, protocol | Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) | Google (standardisation moved to the FIDO Alliance) | Payment protocol | Checkout | C | 55.3 | medium | no | OAuth or key | spec | 2/5 (2) | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ap2.md |

Scores are from public evidence against the published checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/), with Performance and Task success pending. p95 latency and context cost come from our probes, which haven't run yet.

## Summaries

### Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), C (60.9), graded, not ranked against tools

Open checkout spec from OpenAI and Stripe (2025-09-29). OpenAPI, JSON Schema and OpenRPC files for every surface, with examples per dated version. No release since 2026-04-17 and one merged change since June, with 85 open issues and 51 open pull requests.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/acp · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/acp.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/acp.json
- Capabilities: payments.protocol, payments.card-token

### Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), C (55.3), graded, not ranked against tools

Google's protocol for authorising agent payments, now governed by the FIDO Alliance. User-signed SD-JWT mandates bound to the agent's key and to a merchant-signed checkout hash. No production deployment named by Google or found elsewhere.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ap2 · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ap2.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ap2.json
- Capabilities: payments.protocol, payments.mandate