{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "ap2", "name": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)", "vendor": "Google (standardisation moved to the FIDO Alliance)", "vendorUrl": "https://ap2-protocol.org", "kind": "protocol", "category": "checkout-protocols", "summary": "Google's protocol for authorising agent payments, now governed by the FIDO Alliance.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ap2", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ap2.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ap2.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ap2.json", "repo": "https://github.com/google-agentic-commerce/AP2", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Needs a credentials provider and a mandate signed by the user in advance. Not account-free.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "No fees defined. Card and network fees apply on the payment itself.", "priceSummary": "Free", "where": "spec", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "A payment protocol, not a tool that accepts payment.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 3200, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-26" }, "docsUrl": "https://ap2-protocol.org", "llmsTxt": "https://ap2-protocol.org/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "payments.protocol", "payments.mandate" ], "tags": [ "protocol", "pre-1.0", "mandates", "fido" ], "lastRelease": "2026-04-28", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 55.3, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 0, "ranked": false, "notRankedWhy": "A protocol, graded on the same scale but not ranked against tools", "rankOf": 1098, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 51, "maintenance": 19, "payments": 60, "reliability": 31, "schema": 74, "security": 84, "transparency": 56 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "The design to copy when an agent spends a person's money and you need signed proof of what they approved, especially for purchases made while the person is away.", "strengths": [ "User-signed SD-JWT mandates bound to the agent's key and to a merchant-signed checkout hash", "Open mandates cap amount range, total budget, recurrence, merchants and items", "Threat model treats every LLM as a potential attacker and bounds the damage at verification", "Signed receipts to the agent, credential provider and network, usable as dispute evidence", "Standardisation now at FIDO, with Mastercard and Visa chairing the payments working group" ], "weaknesses": [ "No production deployment named by Google or found elsewhere", "No commit on main since 29 April 2026, with 50 open issues and 69 open pull requests", "The v0.1 spec page is still live and contradicts v0.2", "Python SDK only, installed from git, and no conformance vectors", "No documented way to revoke an open mandate before it expires" ], "agentNotes": [ "Read /ap2/specification/ for v0.2; /specification/ is the old v0.1 text", "Ask the user for open mandates with the shortest expiry that fits the task and a budget constraint", "Don't present a second open mandate until you hold a rejection receipt for the first", "Present only the disclosures the verifier needs", "Install the SDK from git; there is no PyPI package" ], "metrics": { "kind": "spec", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 2, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 55.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 51, "maintenance": 19, "payments": 60, "reliability": 31, "schema": 74, "security": 84, "transparency": 55 }, "provenanceScore": 57 }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/payments.protocol", "tool": "https://letme.dev/ap2" }, "area": "payments", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Google LLC", "domain": "ap2-protocol.org", "domainRegistered": "2025-09-15", "domainNote": "The site and repository carry a Google copyright and SECURITY.md routes reports to Google. The FIDO Alliance took on standardisation in April 2026 but doesn't publish the spec yet.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/google-agentic-commerce/AP2/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-01", "score": 57 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ap2.json", "live": { "slug": "ap2", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "google-agentic-commerce/AP2", "version": "v0.2.0", "released": "2026-04-28", "seenAt": "2026-10-16T00:36:03.978654378Z" } ], "githubStars": 3230, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://ap2-protocol.org/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-15T15:49:07.199825272Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://ap2-protocol.org/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-16T14:18:36.008089573Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "ap2-protocol.org", "registered": "2025-09-15", "source": "https://rdap.publicinterestregistry.org/rdap/domain/ap2-protocol.org", "checkedAt": "2026-10-11T13:13:01.054150042Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google-agentic-commerce/AP2/main/CHANGELOG.md", "kind": "changelog", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-15T22:03:53.273496097Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "4e99eb9a25b1" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-16T14:18:36.008089573Z" } }, "answer": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) scores 55.3 (C) on agent readiness against Mastercard Agent Pay's 42.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mastercard Agent Pay leads on reliability.", "b": { "slug": "mastercard-agent-pay", "name": "Mastercard Agent Pay", "vendor": "Mastercard", "vendorUrl": "https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/business/artificial-intelligence/mastercard-agent-pay.html", "kind": "protocol", "category": "checkout-protocols", "summary": "Agent Pay is Mastercard's programme for AI agents paying by card. Registered agents identify themselves with Web Bot Auth signatures and pay with scoped agentic tokens. Agent Pay for Machines, announced in June 2026, extends it to machine payments.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mastercard-agent-pay", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mastercard-agent-pay.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mastercard-agent-pay.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mastercard-agent-pay.json", "repo": "https://github.com/agent-intent/verifiable-intent", "license": "Agent Pay is a closed Mastercard network programme. Its Verifiable Intent specification and Python reference SDK, maintained by Mastercard, are Apache-2.0", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Not self-serve. Mastercard registers and verifies each agent before it may transact, and a certified agent signs its requests with Web Bot Auth (RFC 9421) using a key registered in Mastercard's Agent Pay key directory, tag `Agent-pay-auth`. Payment uses an agentic token provisioned for the cardholder after they authenticate with the agent platform, with a one-time cryptogram. Merchants are registered through their acquirer or PSP.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "The Verifiable Intent specification and SDK are free under Apache-2.0, and the merchant guides on Mastercard Developers need no account. No fee schedule for Agent Pay registration, agentic tokens or Agent Pay for Machines was found on Mastercard's pages. Card and network fees apply on the payment itself.", "priceSummary": "Free", "where": "spec", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "A card network programme, not a tool that accepts payment. Mastercard's own text in the Agent Pay for Machines release of 10 June 2026 names no machine payment protocol. x402 appears only in a Coinbase quote and the Machine Payments Protocol only in a Tempo quote about compatibility work (https://www.mastercard.com/sg/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/june/mastercard-launches-agent-pay-for-machines.html, checked 2026-10-16).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-16" }, "docsUrl": "https://developer.mastercard.com/merchant-cloud/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/agentic-commerce-guide/index.md", "llmsTxt": "https://developer.mastercard.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "payments.protocol", "payments.card-token", "payments.mandate", "auth.agent-identity" ], "tags": [ "protocol", "cards", "partner-only", "pre-1.0", "web-bot-auth", "sd-jwt", "passkeys", "fido", "mastercard" ], "lastRelease": "2026-06-10", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 42.5, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 0, "ranked": false, "notRankedWhy": "A protocol, graded on the same scale but not ranked against tools", "rankOf": 1098, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 38, "maintenance": 23, "payments": 25, "reliability": 40, "schema": 47, "security": 71, "transparency": 36 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "low", "date": "2026-10-16" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Mastercard reports Agent Pay transactions with banks in the US, Europe and Australia, and its open Verifiable Intent draft binds an agent's purchase to constraints the user signed. Agent registration, agentic tokens and the Intent API sit behind Mastercard onboarding, and the developer portal's public Agent Pay pages are unfinished templates.", "bestFor": "Agent platforms that can partner with Mastercard and need card purchases issuers recognise as agentic, with tokens instead of card numbers.", "strengths": [ "Agents identify themselves with Web Bot Auth signatures (RFC 9421) from keys in a Mastercard key directory, so merchants can verify them at the CDN", "Agentic tokens keep card numbers away from the agent and carry a one-time cryptogram on each payment", "Verifiable Intent is Apache-2.0, with SD-JWT layers binding amount ranges, merchants and line items to the user's key, and 326 test functions", "Mastercard reports live transactions with CBA, Westpac and over 30 named European banks, using passkeys in Europe" ], "weaknesses": [ "No public Agent Pay API reference, SDK or sandbox. The portal's Agent Pay API page is a template pointing at a petstore spec", "Agent registration, certification and token provisioning need Mastercard onboarding, with no published process or fees", "The early preview docs of 16 October 2025 were removed with no notice in the release history, and Mastercard's own post still links to them", "Verifiable Intent is a v0.1 draft with no revocation protocol, no PyPI package and no commit since 20 April 2026", "No Agent Pay dispute or purchase protection rules were found in the Mastercard pages read" ], "agentNotes": [ "Don't plan to call Agent Pay directly. Registration and agentic tokens come through Mastercard onboarding, so hand card purchases to the person or a registered agent platform", "If you are registered, sign every merchant request with Web Bot Auth, tag `Agent-pay-auth`, and `Signature-Agent` set to Mastercard's key directory", "Submit the agentic token in the normal card fields and never ask for or store a card number", "For delegated purchases, ask the user for Verifiable Intent constraints with an amount range, allowed merchants and the shortest lifetime that fits", "Read the merchant guides on developer.mastercard.com as Markdown. The Agent Pay docs section there has no public content" ], "metrics": { "kind": "spec", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 2, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "low", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 42.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 38, "maintenance": 23, "payments": 25, "reliability": 40, "schema": 47, "security": 71, "transparency": 31 }, "provenanceScore": 41 }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/payments.protocol", "tool": "https://letme.dev/mastercard-agent-pay" }, "area": "payments", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "", "domain": "mastercard.com", "domainRegistered": "1994-07-27", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://www.mastercard.com/au/en/terms-of-use.html", "privacy": "https://www.mastercard.com/au/en/privacy.html", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "unknown", "checked": "2026-10-16", "notes": [ "No legal entity was read first-hand. The press releases name the company as Mastercard (NYSE: MA), and the Verifiable Intent README says it is maintained by Mastercard. The terms page wasn't readable in this session.", "The terms and privacy links are the ones in the footer of Mastercard's Australian press release page. Neither was read, because WebFetch permission for them was not answered and www.mastercard.com answers curl with 403, robots.txt included.", "RDAP gives mastercard.com a registration date of 27 July 1994 and verifiableintent.dev one of 22 February 2026.", "No changelog for Agent Pay exists. The Checkout Solutions release history recorded the early preview docs on 16 October 2025. Verifiable Intent keeps a CHANGELOG.md with one entry, 0.1.0.", "security.txt on www.mastercard.com couldn't be read (403 to curl). On developer.mastercard.com it redirects to a login. Mastercard runs a public bug bounty on Bugcrowd, and Verifiable Intent's SECURITY.md takes reports by email or GitHub private reporting.", "developer.mastercard.com robots.txt disallows only /media/ and a download path. verifiableintent.dev's robots.txt carries content-signal comments and no rules.", "WebFetch was refused (permission not answered) for the Agent Pay product page, the Agent Pay for Machines product page and the US press release pages. Locale copies of the same releases were read instead. Mastercard Developers pages were read with curl as Markdown." ], "score": 41 }, "requirements": { "card": "unknown", "minutes": 600, "credential": "mixed" }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mastercard-agent-pay.json", "live": { "slug": "mastercard-agent-pay", "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://developer.mastercard.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-16T14:19:45.832134212Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-16T14:19:45.832134212Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "Payment protocol", "b": "Payment protocol", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Google (standardisation moved to the FIDO Alliance)", "b": "Mastercard", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0", "b": "Agent Pay is a closed Mastercard network programme. Its Verifiable Intent specification and Python reference SDK, maintained by Mastercard, are Apache-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-04-28", "b": "2026-06-10", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "3.2k stars", "b": "none", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "2/5 (2)", "b": "2/5 (4)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) scores 55.3 (C) on agent readiness against Mastercard Agent Pay's 42.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mastercard Agent Pay leads on reliability.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) or Mastercard Agent Pay?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 74 against 47", "Agent ergonomics, 51 against 38", "Security \u0026 auth, 84 against 71", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 25", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 56 against 36" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "The design to copy when an agent spends a person's money and you need signed proof of what they approved, especially for purchases made while the person is away.", "slug": "ap2", "watchFor": "No production deployment named by Google or found elsewhere" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 40 against 31" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Agent platforms that can partner with Mastercard and need card purchases issuers recognise as agentic, with tokens instead of card numbers.", "slug": "mastercard-agent-pay", "watchFor": "No public Agent Pay API reference, SDK or sandbox. The portal's Agent Pay API page is a template pointing at a petstore spec" } ], "job": { "capability": "payments.protocol", "name": "Agent payment protocols" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ack-pay-vs-ap2.json", "title": "ACK-Pay (Agent Commerce Kit) vs Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ack-pay-vs-ap2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ack-pay-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.json", "title": "ACK-Pay (Agent Commerce Kit) vs Mastercard Agent Pay", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ack-pay-vs-mastercard-agent-pay" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/acp-vs-ap2.json", "title": "Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) vs Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/acp-vs-ap2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/acp-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.json", "title": "Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) vs Mastercard Agent Pay", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/acp-vs-mastercard-agent-pay" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amex-ace-vs-ap2.json", "title": "American Express Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) vs Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amex-ace-vs-ap2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amex-ace-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.json", "title": "American Express Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) vs Mastercard Agent Pay", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amex-ace-vs-mastercard-agent-pay" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-l402.json", "title": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs L402", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-l402" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mpp.json", "title": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mpp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-visa-intelligent-commerce.json", "title": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs Visa Intelligent Commerce", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-visa-intelligent-commerce" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-x402.json", "title": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs x402", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-x402" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/l402-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.json", "title": "L402 vs Mastercard Agent Pay", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/l402-vs-mastercard-agent-pay" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-mpp.json", "title": "Mastercard Agent Pay vs Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-mpp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-visa-intelligent-commerce.json", "title": "Mastercard Agent Pay vs Visa Intelligent Commerce", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-visa-intelligent-commerce" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-x402.json", "title": "Mastercard Agent Pay vs x402", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-x402" } ], "scores": [ { "ap2": 31, "by": 9, "edge": "mastercard-agent-pay", "key": "reliability", "mastercard-agent-pay": 40, "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "ap2": 74, "by": 27, "edge": "ap2", "key": "schema", "mastercard-agent-pay": 47, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "ap2": 51, "by": 13, "edge": "ap2", "key": "ergonomics", "mastercard-agent-pay": 38, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "ap2": 84, "by": 13, "edge": "ap2", "key": "security", "mastercard-agent-pay": 71, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "ap2": 60, "by": 35, "edge": "ap2", "key": "payments", "mastercard-agent-pay": 25, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "ap2": 19, "by": 4, "edge": "mastercard-agent-pay", "key": "maintenance", "mastercard-agent-pay": 23, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "ap2": 56, "by": 20, "edge": "ap2", "key": "transparency", "mastercard-agent-pay": 36, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) scores 55.3 (C) on agent readiness against Mastercard Agent Pay's 42.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mastercard Agent Pay leads on reliability. Both do agent payment protocols.", "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "ap2": "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.", "mastercard-agent-pay": "Mastercard reports Agent Pay transactions with banks in the US, Europe and Australia, and its open Verifiable Intent draft binds an agent's purchase to constraints the user signed. Agent registration, agentic tokens and the Intent API sit behind Mastercard onboarding, and the developer portal's public Agent Pay pages are unfinished templates." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mastercard-agent-pay", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.min.md" }, "markdown": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) scores 55.3 (C) on agent readiness against Mastercard Agent Pay's 42.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mastercard Agent Pay leads on reliability. Both do agent payment protocols.\n\n- Agent Payments Protocol (AP2): grade C, 55.3/100, rank graded, not ranked against tools. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ap2.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ap2.json\n- Mastercard Agent Pay: grade E, 42.5/100, rank graded, not ranked against tools. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mastercard-agent-pay.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mastercard-agent-pay.json\n- All 30 checkout comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/checkout-protocols/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) (C)\n\nGood for: The design to copy when an agent spends a person's money and you need signed proof of what they approved, especially for purchases made while the person is away.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 74 against 47\n- Agent ergonomics, 51 against 38\n- Security \u0026 auth, 84 against 71\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 25\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 56 against 36\n\nWatch for: No production deployment named by Google or found elsewhere\n\n### Mastercard Agent Pay (E)\n\nGood for: Agent platforms that can partner with Mastercard and need card purchases issuers recognise as agentic, with tokens instead of card numbers.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 40 against 31\n\nWatch for: No public Agent Pay API reference, SDK or sandbox. The portal's Agent Pay API page is a template pointing at a petstore spec\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) | Mastercard Agent Pay | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 31 | 40 | Mastercard Agent Pay +9 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 47 | Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) +27 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 51 | 38 | Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) +13 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 84 | 71 | Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) +13 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 25 | Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) +35 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 19 | 23 | Mastercard Agent Pay +4 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 36 | Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) +20 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **55.3 · C** | **42.5 · E** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) | Mastercard Agent Pay |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Payment protocol | Payment protocol |\n| Vendor | Google (standardisation moved to the FIDO Alliance) | Mastercard |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Free | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Agent Pay is a closed Mastercard network programme. Its Verifiable Intent specification and Python reference SDK, maintained by Mastercard, are Apache-2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-04-28 | 2026-06-10 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | |\n| Customer content may train models | | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | |\n| Popularity | 3.2k stars | none |\n| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | 2/5 (4) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Agent Payments Protocol (AP2).** 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.\n\n**Mastercard Agent Pay.** Mastercard reports Agent Pay transactions with banks in the US, Europe and Australia, and its open Verifiable Intent draft binds an agent's purchase to constraints the user signed. Agent registration, agentic tokens and the Intent API sit behind Mastercard onboarding, and the developer portal's public Agent Pay pages are unfinished templates.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)\n\n1. Read /ap2/specification/ for v0.2; /specification/ is the old v0.1 text\n2. Ask the user for open mandates with the shortest expiry that fits the task and a budget constraint\n3. Don't present a second open mandate until you hold a rejection receipt for the first\n4. Present only the disclosures the verifier needs\n5. Install the SDK from git; there is no PyPI package\n\n### Mastercard Agent Pay\n\n1. Don't plan to call Agent Pay directly. Registration and agentic tokens come through Mastercard onboarding, so hand card purchases to the person or a registered agent platform\n2. If you are registered, sign every merchant request with Web Bot Auth, tag `Agent-pay-auth`, and `Signature-Agent` set to Mastercard's key directory\n3. Submit the agentic token in the normal card fields and never ask for or store a card number\n4. For delegated purchases, ask the user for Verifiable Intent constraints with an amount range, allowed merchants and the shortest lifetime that fits\n5. Read the merchant guides on developer.mastercard.com as Markdown. The Agent Pay docs section there has no public content\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) or Mastercard Agent Pay?\n\nAgent Payments Protocol (AP2) scores 55.3 (C) on agent readiness against Mastercard Agent Pay's 42.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mastercard Agent Pay leads on reliability.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"ap2\", \"b\": \"mastercard-agent-pay\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare ap2 mastercard-agent-pay`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ap2.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mastercard-agent-pay.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) or Mastercard Agent Pay\n\n- [ACK-Pay (Agent Commerce Kit) vs Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ack-pay-vs-ap2.md)\n- [ACK-Pay (Agent Commerce Kit) vs Mastercard Agent Pay](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ack-pay-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.md)\n- [Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) vs Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/acp-vs-ap2.md)\n- [Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) vs Mastercard Agent Pay](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/acp-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.md)\n- [American Express Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) vs Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amex-ace-vs-ap2.md)\n- [American Express Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) vs Mastercard Agent Pay](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amex-ace-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.md)\n- [Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs L402](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-l402.md)\n- [Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mpp.md)\n- [Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs Visa Intelligent Commerce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-visa-intelligent-commerce.md)\n- [Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs x402](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-x402.md)\n- [L402 vs Mastercard Agent Pay](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/l402-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.md)\n- [Mastercard Agent Pay vs Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-mpp.md)\n- [Mastercard Agent Pay vs Visa Intelligent Commerce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-visa-intelligent-commerce.md)\n- [Mastercard Agent Pay vs x402](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-x402.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-16", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs Mastercard Agent Pay", "url": "" } ], "description": "Agent Payments Protocol scores 55.3 (C) to Mastercard Agent Pay's 42.5 (E) for agent payment protocols. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) C 55.3", "Mastercard Agent Pay E 42.5", "scores" ], "h1": "Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) vs Mastercard Agent Pay", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-ap2-vs-mastercard-agent-pay.png", "path": "/compare/ap2-vs-mastercard-agent-pay", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Agent Payments Protocol vs Mastercard Agent Pay for AI agents (2026)", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-16", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ap2-vs-mastercard-agent-pay" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2200, "slim": 630 }, "version": 1 }