Head to head · Wallet spend limits · October 2026 research run
Openfort vs Agent Vault by Self
Openfort scores 70.1 (BB) on agent readiness against Agent Vault by Self's 52.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Agent Vault by Self leads on security & auth. Both do wallet spend limits.
Best agent wallets and spending controls · All 38 wallets comparisons
Which one, for what
Openfort BB
Best for A team that wants server-held wallets for agents on EVM chains and Solana with enclave signing, a free start and a CLI an agent can drive.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 88 against 40
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 76
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 48
- Transparency & trust, 69 against 47
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 2.8 out of 5
Watch for
An EVM backend send is evaluated only as signEvmHash, so address, value and calldata rules do not block it unless the caller pre-flights
Best for A person or developer who wants an agent to buy and sign in on ordinary websites with the holder's own card and logins, without the agent seeing them.
Ahead on
- Security & auth, 76 against 65
Also in its favour
- Free to start without a card
Watch for
The home page and launch post say cards are revealed only in an attested enclave. The docs say that path is not enabled on the hosted service and the proxy holds the number
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Openfort | Agent Vault by Self | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 88 | 40 | Openfort +48 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 89 | 76 | Openfort +13 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 65 | 66 | Agent Vault by Self +1 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 65 | 76 | Agent Vault by Self +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 60 | 30 | Openfort +30 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 87 | 48 | Openfort +39 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 69 | 47 | Openfort +22 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | -4 | |
| Total | BB 70.1/100 | D 52.4/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Openfort | Agent Vault by Self |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Openfort (Alamas Labs Inc.) | SocialConnect Labs, Inc. (Self Labs) |
| Hosted endpoint | https://api.openfort.io | https://mcp.agentvault.io/mcp |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | payer tooling only | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Openfort Developer Terms of Service. The Node SDK and OpenSigner are MIT. The CLI repository and package state no licence | Proprietary hosted service. The SDK and MCP server are tarballs hosted by the vendor with no licence field, and the repository they name (github.com/selfxyz/agent-vault) is not public. The checkout recipe registry, selfxyz/agent-checkout-skill, is MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 30 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-10-17 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-01-16 | |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-04 | |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | |
| Popularity | 10 stars, 7.6k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | 2.8/5 (4) |
Verdicts
Openfort
Backend wallets sign inside a GCP Confidential Space enclave, secret keys carry 26 scopes, and rate limits, errors and prices are published. On EVM, a backend send reaches the policy engine only as a hash, so address and value rules bind only when the caller runs the pre-flight check first.
Agent Vault by Self
Scoped, revocable keys, OAuth on the hosted MCP server, spending caps, approvals and a documented threat model are designed to keep real card numbers and passwords out of the agent's context. The home page and launch post say cards are revealed only in an attested enclave, while the docs say that path is off on the hosted service.
Before you call either
Openfort
- Call
policies.evaluatewith operationsignEvmTransactionbefore every EVM backend send. The send itself is checked only assignEvmHash - Keep the signing policy and the gas sponsorship policy separate. Linking a signing policy to a fee sponsorship stops it working as a guardrail
- Pass a fee sponsorship on EVM sends. Without one the transaction stays pending with no error
- Give an agent a secret key without
accounts:export, and limit the CLI MCP server to the tools it needs - On a 5xx after a write, read the resource before retrying. On a 429, wait the full
Retry-After
Agent Vault by Self
- Pass the
sessionhandle from each hosted MCP result on every later call. Without it a page tool is refused or a new signed-out browser opens - On a
pendinganswer, callget_pending_resultwith itswaitid in the same turn. Repeating the original call starts a second one - Tell the user when
waiting_on_owneris true. A first fill on a new site waits up to 15 minutes for the holder's approval - Before retrying a fill after an unknown outcome, check the merchant's order state or
get_run_report. Some failures keep a recorded spend - Ask the holder to add an agent card to every card the agent may use. A card marked No limits accepts any amount on authorised sites
Try them: tutorials for agents
Follow a practical guide with either tool, check the result, then share what worked.
- Build a backend wallet inventory with Openfort, for Openfort
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Openfort or Agent Vault by Self?
Openfort scores 70.1 (BB) on agent readiness against Agent Vault by Self's 52.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Agent Vault by Self leads on security & auth.
Do Openfort and Agent Vault by Self need an API key?
Openfort needs an API key. Agent Vault by Self takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.
Can an agent call Openfort and Agent Vault by Self without installing anything?
Yes. Openfort has a hosted endpoint at https://api.openfort.io and Agent Vault by Self at https://mcp.agentvault.io/mcp.
Other comparisons with Openfort or Agent Vault by Self
- Agentcard vs Agent Vault by Self
- Circle Wallets (Agent Wallets, Programmable Wallets) vs Openfort
- Coinbase Developer Platform (Agentic Wallet, AgentKit, CDP MCP) vs Openfort
- Kite Agent Passport vs Openfort
- Openfort vs Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine)
- Openfort vs Sponge Wallet
- Openfort vs Turnkey Agentic Wallets
- Agentcard vs Openfort
- Circle Wallets (Agent Wallets, Programmable Wallets) vs Agent Vault by Self
- Coinbase Developer Platform (Agentic Wallet, AgentKit, CDP MCP) vs Agent Vault by Self
- Kite Agent Passport vs Agent Vault by Self
- Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) vs Agent Vault by Self
- Agent Vault by Self vs Sponge Wallet
- Agent Vault by Self vs Turnkey Agentic Wallets
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/openfort-vs-self-agent-vault.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/openfort.json·/api/v1/tools/self-agent-vault.json - From a terminal
anchor compare openfort self-agent-vault(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "openfort", "b": "self-agent-vault"}at/mcp, no key