{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "circle-gateway-nanopayments", "name": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments", "vendor": "Circle", "vendorUrl": "https://www.circle.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "payment-platforms", "summary": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments is a hosted x402 facilitator that settles gas-free USDC payments as small as $0.000001. Buyers sign offchain authorisations against a Gateway balance, and Circle settles net positions onchain in batches.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/circle-gateway-nanopayments", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/circle-gateway-nanopayments.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/circle-gateway-nanopayments.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/circle-gateway-nanopayments.json", "repo": "https://github.com/circlefin/evm-gateway-contracts", "license": "Proprietary hosted service under the Circle Developer Terms. The `@circle-fin/x402-batching` SDK on npm and the Gateway contracts on GitHub are Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://gateway-api.circle.com", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@circle-fin/x402-batching" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No API key or account on the self-managed route. A buyer signs each payment as an EIP-3009 `TransferWithAuthorization` with an EOA private key, and a seller supplies only a receiving address. The SDK's facilitator client sends no credential by default and accepts optional headers. The OpenAPI file defines a Bearer key scheme and applies it to no operation. The Circle Wallets route in the buyer quickstart needs a Circle Console account, an API key and an entity secret. Smart contract accounts are not supported.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "No per-payment fee or gas for a nanopayment, per the docs. The buyer pays chain gas once for the deposit. Crosschain withdrawals carry a 0.005% transfer fee plus a gas fee by source chain, from $0.001 to $1.00, and same-chain withdrawals carry no transfer fee. Testnets work with faucet USDC and no account. No subscription or card. The developer terms say Gateway fees are communicated through the API and may change (checked 2026-10-09).", "priceSummary": "0.01% fee", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "partial", "evidence": "Circle runs the facilitator. Sellers using `createGatewayMiddleware` or `BatchFacilitatorClient` answer `402 Payment Required` with a `PAYMENT-REQUIRED` header and settle through `POST /v1/x402/settle` on gateway-api.circle.com, under the x402 `exact` scheme with `extra.name` set to `GatewayWalletBatched`. Circle's own API is not paid over x402 (https://developers.circle.com/gateway-nanopayments; https://developers.circle.com/openapi/gateway-nanopayments.yaml, checked 2026-10-09).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 16895, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-09" }, "docsUrl": "https://developers.circle.com/gateway-nanopayments", "llmsTxt": "https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://developers.circle.com/openapi/gateway-nanopayments.yaml", "capabilities": [ "payments.x402", "payments.stablecoin" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage-based", "x402", "facilitator", "stablecoins", "usdc", "micropayments", "batched-settlement", "non-custodial", "keyless", "openapi", "llms-txt", "typescript", "open-source-sdk" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-16", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.6, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 247, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 950, "categoryRank": 5, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 75, "maintenance": 77, "payments": 80, "reliability": 56, "schema": 80, "security": 64, "transparency": 72 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-09" }, "negative": -3, "negativeNotes": [ "26 August 2026. `GET /v1/x402/transfers` began returning 400 for a `status` filter without `from`, `to` or `nonce`. Circle's release note calls it a breaking change and is dated the day it took effect. No earlier notice was found in the release notes (https://developers.circle.com/release-notes/gateway-2026). Documented, so the smallest deduction." ], "verdict": "A buyer with an EOA key and a seller with a wallet address can transact with no account or API key, and the settle call returns 16 documented error codes with recovery steps. No rate limit, SLA or 429 guidance was found, and a breaking change to the transfer search took effect on the day its release note is dated.", "bestFor": "Sellers charging fractions of a cent per API call and agents making many small payments from one prefunded balance on EVM chains.", "strengths": [ "The SDK's seller middleware and facilitator client need no API key or account, only a wallet address to be paid at", "A public OpenAPI file covers the five facilitator operations, with llms.txt and a Markdown twin of every docs page", "The error reference lists 16 settle and verify codes, each with a cause and a recovery step", "The batching contracts were audited by OtterSec (report dated 10 June 2026), and the Gateway contracts are Apache-2.0 on GitHub", "Deposits sit in a non-custodial contract, with a withdrawal path that needs no Circle API after a 7-day delay" ], "weaknesses": [ "No rate limit, 429 guidance or SLA was found for the Gateway API in the reviewed documentation", "From 26 August 2026 a `status` filter alone on `GET /v1/x402/transfers` returns 400. The release note is dated the same day", "Only EOA signatures work. Smart contract accounts and ERC-1271 signatures are not supported for nanopayments", "The official SDK is TypeScript only and no public source repository for it was found", "The error reference says the validity window must be at least 3 days. The seller quickstart and the SDK source say 7 days", "The developer terms let Circle change or discontinue Gateway without prior notice and change its fees at its discretion" ], "agentNotes": [ "Deposit on the chain you will pay from. `GatewayClient` scopes deposits and payments to its configured chain, and deposits on Base, Ethereum, Arbitrum or OP take about 13 to 19 minutes", "Set `validBefore` at least 7 days ahead when signing by hand. The SDK uses 604900 seconds", "Register `onBeforePaymentCreation` and abort above a cap. `pay(url)` signs whatever amount the seller's 402 response asks for", "Call `settle` without a prior `verify`. Balance and nonce checks happen only at settle time", "Pass `from`, `to` or `nonce` whenever you filter transfers by `status`, and wait for `completed` before a dependent onchain step" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 67.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 75, "maintenance": 77, "payments": 80, "reliability": 56, "schema": 80, "security": 64, "transparency": 59 }, "provenanceScore": 84 }, "connect": { "install": "npm install @circle-fin/x402-batching" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/payments.x402", "tool": "https://letme.dev/circle-gateway-nanopayments" }, "sameCompany": [ "circle-wallets" ], "area": "payments", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Batched nanopayment", "unit": "tx", "usd": 0, "note": "no per-payment fee or gas for buyer or seller, per the docs. The deposit costs chain gas once" }, { "item": "Crosschain withdrawal transfer fee", "unit": "pct", "usd": 0.005, "note": "0.5 basis points. Not charged on same-chain withdrawals" }, { "item": "Gateway gas fee, Base as source chain", "unit": "tx", "usd": 0.01, "note": "by source chain, from $0.001 on Sei and Unichain to $1.00 on Ethereum" }, { "item": "Forwarding Service fee", "unit": "tx", "usd": 0.05, "note": "optional, plus a forwarding gas fee" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Circle Technology Services, LLC", "domain": "circle.com", "domainRegistered": "1999-04-09", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://console.circle.com/legal/developer-terms", "privacy": "https://www.circle.com/legal/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.circle.com", "changelog": "https://developers.circle.com/release-notes/gateway-2026", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-09", "notes": [ "The Developer Terms of Service (last updated 16 September 2026) are a contract with Circle Technology Services, LLC and name Gateway as a Permissionless Product. They say committed USDC stays the user's property and that Circle may modify or discontinue Permissionless Products without prior notice.", "The Privacy Policy (last updated 16 September 2026) is from Circle Internet Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries and links a sub-processor list last updated 22 December 2025.", "The API hosts are gateway-api.circle.com and gateway-api-testnet.circle.com, on the vendor's domain.", "status.circle.com is an Atlassian Statuspage with Circle Gateway components for each chain. It has no component named for nanopayments or x402.", "www.circle.com/.well-known/security.txt answered 404. The SECURITY.md in github.com/circlefin/skills names a bug bounty programme at hackerone.com/circle-bbp.", "RDAP for circle.com gives a registration date of 1999-04-09." ], "score": 84 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/circle-gateway-nanopayments.json", "live": { "slug": "circle-gateway-nanopayments", "probe": { "target": "https://gateway-api.circle.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-10T03:53:23.545853009Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 119, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 145, "p95ms24h": 1147, "samples24h": 125, "samples30d": 125, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 85, "ok": 85 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 40, "ok": 40 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.circle.com", "indicator": "major", "summary": "Partial System Outage", "checkedAt": "2026-10-10T03:58:02.638879871Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@circle-fin/x402-batching", "version": "3.5.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:45:07.952774661Z" } ], "githubStars": 10, "npmWeekly": 16895, "pages": [ { "url": "https://developers.circle.com/release-notes/gateway-2026", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:35:33.753415397Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "6ef7c495e029" }, { "url": "https://www.circle.com/legal/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:49:03.821925211Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-09T18:49:03.821925211Z", "fingerprint": "0b638ffd6762" }, { "url": "https://console.circle.com/legal/developer-terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:34:17.88745813Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "06bed5753aaf" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-10T03:58:02.638879871Z" } }, "answer": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Payman Genie MCP's 52.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Payman Genie MCP leads on security \u0026 auth.", "b": { "slug": "payman", "name": "Payman Genie MCP", "vendor": "Payman AI", "vendorUrl": "https://paymanai.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "payment-platforms", "summary": "Banking and payment tools for agents. Its Genie MCP server supports bill payments, cards, transfers and other transactions within owner-defined limits.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payman", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payman.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payman.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/payman.json", "repo": "https://github.com/PaymanAI/genie-mcp-stdio", "license": "MIT", "transports": [ "streamable-http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://genie.paymanai.com/mcp", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@paymanai/genie-mcp-stdio" } ], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "OAuth 2.1 authorisation code with S256 PKCE as a public client, scopes `genie:ask` and `genie:self`; the first call answers 401 with resource metadata. Clients can now register dynamically with exact redirect URIs and no secret; the stdio bridge is a preregistered native client that stores a rotating refresh token (90 days from last use) in a 0600 file and revokes it on logout. Access tokens last an hour. No API keys for people; integration keys exist for organisations acting for customers.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "No price list is published for Genie, and signing up needs no card or bank details. Fees from connected providers (card issuers, Coinbase, banks) still apply. The bank product is sold through demos only (https://genie.paymanai.com/developers).", "priceSummary": "Paid", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "partial", "evidence": "Genie can pay x402-protected APIs from a daily agent budget the owner sets. Payman doesn't offer a way to accept x402 payments (https://genie.paymanai.com/).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 5, "popularity": { "githubStars": 0, "npmWeekly": 33, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://genie.paymanai.com/developers", "capabilities": [ "payments.x402", "payments.card", "payments.payouts" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "mcp", "x402", "no-card", "closed-source" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-19", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 52.5, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 735, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 950, "categoryRank": 12, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 35, "reliability": 25, "schema": 56, "security": 80, "transparency": 43 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, two scopes, one-hour access tokens and refresh tokens rotated on every use and revoked on logout. No published pricing, status page, rate limits or changelog.", "bestFor": "A person or small business who wants an assistant to pay bills, issue one-time cards or pay x402 APIs within hard limits.", "strengths": [ "OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, two scopes, one-hour access tokens and refresh tokens rotated on every use and revoked on logout", "Owner-set per-payment, daily and monthly limits and approved payees, with code or passkey approval over a threshold", "Five documented statuses and three retry codes tell an agent when to stop and when retrying is safe", "Five compact MCP tools, one of which moves money", "Genie holds no funds; money stays at the bank, card wallet or Coinbase" ], "weaknesses": [ "No published pricing, status page, rate limits or changelog", "Pays x402 APIs but can't accept x402, MPP or any agent payment", "docs.paymanai.com still fails with a Cloudflare 526 and the payman-ts SDK hasn't shipped since September 2025, with no deprecation notice", "The privacy policy allows anonymised or aggregated data to train AI models", "Not in the official MCP registry" ], "agentNotes": [ "Pass the person's request to `ask_genie` in their own words; don't pick accounts or fill payment fields", "On `needs_approval`, stop and tell the person; approval happens in their Genie account", "Retry only after `NOTHING_RAN` or `BUSY`, never after `OUTCOME_UNKNOWN`", "Treat `done` as acted, not settled; check the activity history before confirming a payment", "Sign-ins from bridge 0.3.x lack `genie:self`; log out and sign in again to use the self-service tools" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 52.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 35, "reliability": 25, "schema": 56, "security": 80, "transparency": 33 }, "provenanceScore": 53 }, "connect": { "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http genie https://genie.paymanai.com/mcp", "config": { "mcpServers": { "genie": { "args": [ "-y", "@paymanai/genie-mcp-stdio" ], "command": "npx" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/payments.x402", "tool": "https://letme.dev/payman" }, "area": "payments", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Payman AI, Inc.", "domain": "paymanai.com", "domainRegistered": "2024-04-12", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://paymanai.com/terms-of-use", "privacy": "https://paymanai.com/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "API licence agreement updated 2026-09-29 (https://paymanai.com/api-license)", "Trust centre at https://trust.paymanai.com/ claims SOC 2" ], "score": 53 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payman.json", "live": { "slug": "payman", "probe": { "target": "https://genie.paymanai.com/mcp", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-10T03:53:37.498512708Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 401, "lastMs": 280, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 292, "p95ms24h": 372, "samples24h": 249, "samples30d": 2476, "days": [ { "date": "2026-09-30", "probes": 35, "ok": 35 }, { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 276, "ok": 276 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 40, "ok": 40 } ] }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@paymanai/genie-mcp-stdio", "version": "0.4.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T17:12:13.628083421Z" } ], "githubStars": 0, "npmWeekly": 13, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://paymanai.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T15:39:49.716523822Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "paymanai.com", "registered": "2024-04-12", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/paymanai.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:10:17.928221506Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://paymanai.com/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:43:05.372807143Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "ff776dc5cea7" }, { "url": "https://paymanai.com/terms-of-use", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:43:07.479688609Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "9f297267ac8a" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-10T03:53:37.498512708Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Circle", "b": "Payman AI", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://gateway-api.circle.com", "b": "https://genie.paymanai.com/mcp", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "Streamable HTTP, stdio", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "None", "b": "OAuth", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Paid", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "payer tooling only", "b": "payer tooling only", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary hosted service under the Circle Developer Terms. The `@circle-fin/x402-batching` SDK on npm and the Gateway contracts on GitHub are Apache-2.0", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "none", "b": "5", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-16", "b": "2026-09-19", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-09-16", "b": "2026-09-29", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "2026-09-29", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "17k npm/wk", "b": "0 stars, 33 npm/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "none", "b": "3.5/5 (2)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Payman Genie MCP's 52.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Payman Genie MCP leads on security \u0026 auth.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Circle Gateway Nanopayments or Payman Genie MCP?" }, { "answer": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments needs no key. Payman Genie MCP uses an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Circle Gateway Nanopayments and Payman Genie MCP need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Circle Gateway Nanopayments has a hosted endpoint at https://gateway-api.circle.com and Payman Genie MCP at https://genie.paymanai.com/mcp.", "question": "Can an agent call Circle Gateway Nanopayments and Payman Genie MCP without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 56 against 25", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 80 against 56", "Agent ergonomics, 75 against 68", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 80 against 35", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 77 against 60", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 43" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it" ], "goodFor": "Sellers charging fractions of a cent per API call and agents making many small payments from one prefunded balance on EVM chains.", "slug": "circle-gateway-nanopayments", "watchFor": "No rate limit, 429 guidance or SLA was found for the Gateway API in the reviewed documentation" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Security \u0026 auth, 80 against 64" ], "also": [ "Runs on your own machine", "Free to start without a card", "No incidents deducted, where Circle Gateway Nanopayments loses 3 points for them" ], "goodFor": "A person or small business who wants an assistant to pay bills, issue one-time cards or pay x402 APIs within hard limits.", "slug": "payman", "watchFor": "No published pricing, status page, rate limits or changelog" } ], "job": { "capability": "payments.x402", "name": "x402 payments" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adyen-mcp-server-vs-payman.json", "title": "Adyen MCP server vs Payman Genie MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adyen-mcp-server-vs-payman" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crossmint-vs-payman.json", "title": "Crossmint API + Docs MCP vs Payman Genie MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crossmint-vs-payman" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lago-vs-payman.json", "title": "Lago vs Payman Genie MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lago-vs-payman" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orb-vs-payman.json", "title": "Orb vs Payman Genie MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orb-vs-payman" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paid-vs-payman.json", "title": "Paid vs Payman Genie MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paid-vs-payman" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payman-vs-skyfire.json", "title": "Payman Genie MCP vs Skyfire API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payman-vs-skyfire" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atxp-vs-circle-gateway-nanopayments.json", "title": "ATXP vs Circle Gateway Nanopayments", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atxp-vs-circle-gateway-nanopayments" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-skyfire.json", "title": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Skyfire API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-skyfire" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-tempo.json", "title": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Tempo", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-tempo" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atxp-vs-payman.json", "title": "ATXP vs Payman Genie MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atxp-vs-payman" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-crossmint.json", "title": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Crossmint API + Docs MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-crossmint" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-nevermined.json", "title": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Nevermined API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-nevermined" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-stripe-mcp.json", "title": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Stripe API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-stripe-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nevermined-vs-payman.json", "title": "Nevermined API + MCP vs Payman Genie MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nevermined-vs-payman" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payman-vs-stripe-mcp.json", "title": "Payman Genie MCP vs Stripe API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payman-vs-stripe-mcp" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 31, "circle-gateway-nanopayments": 56, "edge": "circle-gateway-nanopayments", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "payman": 25, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 24, "circle-gateway-nanopayments": 80, "edge": "circle-gateway-nanopayments", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "payman": 56, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 7, "circle-gateway-nanopayments": 75, "edge": "circle-gateway-nanopayments", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "payman": 68, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 16, "circle-gateway-nanopayments": 64, "edge": "payman", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "payman": 80, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 45, "circle-gateway-nanopayments": 80, "edge": "circle-gateway-nanopayments", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "payman": 35, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 17, "circle-gateway-nanopayments": 77, "edge": "circle-gateway-nanopayments", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "payman": 60, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 29, "circle-gateway-nanopayments": 72, "edge": "circle-gateway-nanopayments", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "payman": 43, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Payman Genie MCP's 52.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Payman Genie MCP leads on security \u0026 auth. Both do x402 payments.", "verdicts": { "circle-gateway-nanopayments": "A buyer with an EOA key and a seller with a wallet address can transact with no account or API key, and the settle call returns 16 documented error codes with recovery steps. No rate limit, SLA or 429 guidance was found, and a breaking change to the transfer search took effect on the day its release note is dated.", "payman": "OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, two scopes, one-hour access tokens and refresh tokens rotated on every use and revoked on logout. No published pricing, status page, rate limits or changelog." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-payman", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-payman.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-payman.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-payman.min.md" }, "markdown": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Payman Genie MCP's 52.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Payman Genie MCP leads on security \u0026 auth. Both do x402 payments.\n\n- Circle Gateway Nanopayments: grade B, 67.6/100, rank #247 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/circle-gateway-nanopayments.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/circle-gateway-nanopayments.json\n- Payman Genie MCP: grade D, 52.5/100, rank #735 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payman.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/payman.json\n- Best payment and monetisation platforms for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/payment-platforms/index.md\n- All 76 platforms comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payment-platforms/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Circle Gateway Nanopayments (B)\n\nGood for: Sellers charging fractions of a cent per API call and agents making many small payments from one prefunded balance on EVM chains.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 56 against 25\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 80 against 56\n- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 68\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 80 against 35\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 77 against 60\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 43\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n\nWatch for: No rate limit, 429 guidance or SLA was found for the Gateway API in the reviewed documentation\n\n### Payman Genie MCP (D)\n\nGood for: A person or small business who wants an assistant to pay bills, issue one-time cards or pay x402 APIs within hard limits.\n\nAhead on:\n- Security \u0026 auth, 80 against 64\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Runs on your own machine\n- Free to start without a card\n- No incidents deducted, where Circle Gateway Nanopayments loses 3 points for them\n\nWatch for: No published pricing, status page, rate limits or changelog\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Circle Gateway Nanopayments | Payman Genie MCP | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 56 | 25 | Circle Gateway Nanopayments +31 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 56 | Circle Gateway Nanopayments +24 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 68 | Circle Gateway Nanopayments +7 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 80 | Payman Genie MCP +16 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 80 | 35 | Circle Gateway Nanopayments +45 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 60 | Circle Gateway Nanopayments +17 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 43 | Circle Gateway Nanopayments +29 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **67.6 · B** | **52.5 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Circle Gateway Nanopayments | Payman Genie MCP |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Circle | Payman AI |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://gateway-api.circle.com` | `https://genie.paymanai.com/mcp` |\n| Transports | HTTP | Streamable HTTP, stdio |\n| Auth | None | OAuth |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Paid |\n| x402 | payer tooling only | payer tooling only |\n| Licence | Proprietary hosted service under the Circle Developer Terms. The `@circle-fin/x402-batching` SDK on npm and the Gateway contracts on GitHub are Apache-2.0 | MIT |\n| Tools exposed | none | 5 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| Last release | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-19 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-29 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-09-29 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |\n| Popularity | 17k npm/wk | 0 stars, 33 npm/wk |\n| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Circle Gateway Nanopayments.** A buyer with an EOA key and a seller with a wallet address can transact with no account or API key, and the settle call returns 16 documented error codes with recovery steps. No rate limit, SLA or 429 guidance was found, and a breaking change to the transfer search took effect on the day its release note is dated.\n\n**Payman Genie MCP.** OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, two scopes, one-hour access tokens and refresh tokens rotated on every use and revoked on logout. No published pricing, status page, rate limits or changelog.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Circle Gateway Nanopayments\n\n1. Deposit on the chain you will pay from. `GatewayClient` scopes deposits and payments to its configured chain, and deposits on Base, Ethereum, Arbitrum or OP take about 13 to 19 minutes\n2. Set `validBefore` at least 7 days ahead when signing by hand. The SDK uses 604900 seconds\n3. Register `onBeforePaymentCreation` and abort above a cap. `pay(url)` signs whatever amount the seller's 402 response asks for\n4. Call `settle` without a prior `verify`. Balance and nonce checks happen only at settle time\n5. Pass `from`, `to` or `nonce` whenever you filter transfers by `status`, and wait for `completed` before a dependent onchain step\n\n### Payman Genie MCP\n\n1. Pass the person's request to `ask_genie` in their own words; don't pick accounts or fill payment fields\n2. On `needs_approval`, stop and tell the person; approval happens in their Genie account\n3. Retry only after `NOTHING_RAN` or `BUSY`, never after `OUTCOME_UNKNOWN`\n4. Treat `done` as acted, not settled; check the activity history before confirming a payment\n5. Sign-ins from bridge 0.3.x lack `genie:self`; log out and sign in again to use the self-service tools\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Circle Gateway Nanopayments or Payman Genie MCP?\n\nCircle Gateway Nanopayments scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Payman Genie MCP's 52.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Payman Genie MCP leads on security \u0026 auth.\n\n### Do Circle Gateway Nanopayments and Payman Genie MCP need an API key?\n\nCircle Gateway Nanopayments needs no key. Payman Genie MCP uses an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Circle Gateway Nanopayments and Payman Genie MCP without installing anything?\n\nYes. Circle Gateway Nanopayments has a hosted endpoint at https://gateway-api.circle.com and Payman Genie MCP at https://genie.paymanai.com/mcp.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-payman.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-payman.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"circle-gateway-nanopayments\", \"b\": \"payman\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare circle-gateway-nanopayments payman`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/circle-gateway-nanopayments.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/payman.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Circle Gateway Nanopayments or Payman Genie MCP\n\n- [Adyen MCP server vs Payman Genie MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adyen-mcp-server-vs-payman.md)\n- [Crossmint API + Docs MCP vs Payman Genie MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crossmint-vs-payman.md)\n- [Lago vs Payman Genie MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lago-vs-payman.md)\n- [Orb vs Payman Genie MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orb-vs-payman.md)\n- [Paid vs Payman Genie MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paid-vs-payman.md)\n- [Payman Genie MCP vs Skyfire API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payman-vs-skyfire.md)\n- [ATXP vs Circle Gateway Nanopayments](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atxp-vs-circle-gateway-nanopayments.md)\n- [Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Skyfire API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-skyfire.md)\n- [Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Tempo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-tempo.md)\n- [ATXP vs Payman Genie MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atxp-vs-payman.md)\n- [Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Crossmint API + Docs MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-crossmint.md)\n- [Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Nevermined API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-nevermined.md)\n- [Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Stripe API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-stripe-mcp.md)\n- [Nevermined API + MCP vs Payman Genie MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nevermined-vs-payman.md)\n- [Payman Genie MCP vs Stripe API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payman-vs-stripe-mcp.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-10", "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" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Payman Genie MCP", "url": "" } ], "description": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments scores 67.6 (B) to Payman Genie MCP's 52.5 (D) for x402 payments. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Circle Gateway Nanopayments B 67.6", "Payman Genie MCP D 52.5", "scores" ], "h1": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Payman Genie MCP", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-payman.png", "path": "/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-payman", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Circle Gateway Nanopayments vs Payman Genie MCP for AI agents (2026)", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-gateway-nanopayments-vs-payman" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2400, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }