# Agent Vault by Self vs Sponge Wallet

> Agent Vault by Self scores 52.4 (D) to Sponge Wallet's 43.2 (E) for wallet spend limits. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/self-agent-vault-vs-sponge-wallet
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/self-agent-vault-vs-sponge-wallet.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/self-agent-vault-vs-sponge-wallet.min.md (~830 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/self-agent-vault-vs-sponge-wallet.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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: 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.
- Updated: 2026-10-17

Agent Vault by Self scores 52.4 (D) on agent readiness against Sponge Wallet's 43.2 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Sponge Wallet leads on payments & pricing. Both do wallet spend limits.

- Agent Vault by Self: grade D, 52.4/100, rank #823 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/self-agent-vault.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/self-agent-vault.json
- Sponge Wallet: grade E, 43.2/100, rank #1006 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sponge-wallet.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sponge-wallet.json
- Best agent wallets and spending controls: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-wallets/index.md
- All 38 wallets comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-wallets/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Agent Vault by Self (D)

Good 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:
- Reliability, 40 against 13
- Schema & documentation, 76 against 66
- Agent ergonomics, 66 against 43
- Security & auth, 76 against 48
- Maintenance & community, 48 against 27
- Transparency & trust, 47 against 39

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- 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

### Sponge Wallet (E)

Good for: A developer who wants an agent to hold stablecoins and pay x402 or MPP endpoints within minutes, with cards, bank rails and Hyperliquid or Polymarket trading behind the same key.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 70 against 30

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Agent Vault by Self loses 4 points for them

Watch for: No status page, SLA or numeric rate limit was found, and the terms say the service may be offered in beta


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Agent Vault by Self | Sponge Wallet | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 13 | Agent Vault by Self +27 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 66 | Agent Vault by Self +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 43 | Agent Vault by Self +23 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 76 | 48 | Agent Vault by Self +28 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 70 | Sponge Wallet +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 48 | 27 | Agent Vault by Self +21 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 47 | 39 | Agent Vault by Self +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.4 · D** | **43.2 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Agent Vault by Self | Sponge Wallet |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | SocialConnect Labs, Inc. (Self Labs) | Sponge Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.agentvault.io/mcp` | `https://api.wallet.paysponge.com` |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | payer tooling only |
| 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 | Proprietary service under Sponge's terms of service. The SDK and CLI packages on npm are MIT, and the repository they name is private |
| Tools exposed | 30 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-17 | 2026-07-07 |
| Terms last updated |  | 2026-06-30 |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | 2026-06-30 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 126 npm/wk, 20 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | 3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Sponge Wallet.** An agent can register a wallet with one unauthenticated call and pay x402 or MPP endpoints under daily, weekly and monthly limits enforced on Sponge's servers. No status page, rate limits, fee schedule, custody statement or security contact was found, the terms run to eleven short clauses, and the SDK was last published on 7 July 2026.

## Before you call either

### Agent Vault by Self

1. Pass the `session` handle from each hosted MCP result on every later call. Without it a page tool is refused or a new signed-out browser opens
2. On a `pending` answer, call `get_pending_result` with its `wait` id in the same turn. Repeating the original call starts a second one
3. Tell the user when `waiting_on_owner` is true. A first fill on a new site waits up to 15 minutes for the holder's approval
4. Before retrying a fill after an unknown outcome, check the merchant's order state or `get_run_report`. Some failures keep a recorded spend
5. 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

### Sponge Wallet

1. Send `Sponge-Version` on every REST request. The skill file marks it required and the API answers with version status headers
2. Use `evmTransfer` and `solanaTransfer`, the helpers the docs describe as enforcing allowlists and spending limits, not plain `transfer`
3. Store the `apiKey` from registration at once. It is returned a single time, and losing it means registering again
4. Call `GET /api/discover/{serviceId}` before `POST /api/paid/fetch`. The skill file says direct service URLs fail with auth errors
5. Treat `card details` output as secret. It returns an encrypted card number and CVC with a one-time `secret_key`

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Agent Vault by Self or Sponge Wallet?

Agent Vault by Self scores 52.4 (D) on agent readiness against Sponge Wallet's 43.2 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Sponge Wallet leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Agent Vault by Self and Sponge Wallet need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Agent Vault by Self and Sponge Wallet without installing anything?

Yes. Agent Vault by Self has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.agentvault.io/mcp and Sponge Wallet at https://api.wallet.paysponge.com.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/self-agent-vault-vs-sponge-wallet.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/self-agent-vault-vs-sponge-wallet.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "self-agent-vault", "b": "sponge-wallet"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare self-agent-vault sponge-wallet`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/self-agent-vault.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sponge-wallet.json

## Other comparisons with Agent Vault by Self or Sponge Wallet

- [Agentcard vs Agent Vault by Self](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcard-vs-self-agent-vault.md)
- [Agentcard vs Sponge Wallet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcard-vs-sponge-wallet.md)
- [Circle Wallets (Agent Wallets, Programmable Wallets) vs Sponge Wallet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-wallets-vs-sponge-wallet.md)
- [Coinbase Developer Platform (Agentic Wallet, AgentKit, CDP MCP) vs Sponge Wallet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-cdp-agentkit-vs-sponge-wallet.md)
- [Kite Agent Passport vs Sponge Wallet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kite-agent-passport-vs-sponge-wallet.md)
- [Openfort vs Sponge Wallet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-sponge-wallet.md)
- [Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) vs Sponge Wallet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privy-vs-sponge-wallet.md)
- [Sponge Wallet vs Turnkey Agentic Wallets](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sponge-wallet-vs-turnkey-agentic-wallets.md)
- [Circle Wallets (Agent Wallets, Programmable Wallets) vs Agent Vault by Self](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-wallets-vs-self-agent-vault.md)
- [Coinbase Developer Platform (Agentic Wallet, AgentKit, CDP MCP) vs Agent Vault by Self](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-cdp-agentkit-vs-self-agent-vault.md)
- [Kite Agent Passport vs Agent Vault by Self](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kite-agent-passport-vs-self-agent-vault.md)
- [Openfort vs Agent Vault by Self](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-self-agent-vault.md)
- [Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) vs Agent Vault by Self](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privy-vs-self-agent-vault.md)
- [Agent Vault by Self vs Turnkey Agentic Wallets](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/self-agent-vault-vs-turnkey-agentic-wallets.md)

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