Locus product guide · Updated September 29, 2026

Agentic payment platforms compared

Pick the platform that matches what your agent pays for. For checkout on websites, look at card programs from Visa and Mastercard, or at Skyfire and Crossmint. To sell to agents, look at Stripe and Nevermined. To hold stablecoins, look at Coinbase or Crossmint. For per-call APIs from one balance, use Locus Pro.

Which agentic payment platform should I use?

Start with the job, not the vendor. "Agentic payments" covers three different problems, and most platforms focus on one or two of them.

Your agent buys from websites and merchants: Visa Intelligent Commerce, Mastercard Agent Pay, Skyfire, or Crossmint agentic cards.
You want agents to pay you: Stripe machine payments (MPP or x402) or Nevermined.
Your agent holds and moves stablecoins: Coinbase Agentic Wallets, Crossmint wallets, or Pay With Locus.
Your agent pays for APIs and tools per call: Locus Pro, which bills one prepaid balance across a shared catalog.
You are a bank or credit union deploying agents for customers: Payman.

How do the main agentic payment platforms compare?

The table uses only what each vendor publishes on its own site as of September 29, 2026. "Not published" means we did not find a price on the pages we checked. Ask the vendor for a quote.

How do the main agentic payment platforms compare?
Platform	What it does	Payment rails	Who holds funds	Spending controls	Public pricing	Best for
Skyfire	KYA identity and payment tokens so agents can log in and pay sellers	Funding by card, ACH, wire, or USDC. Tokenized cards with Visa, Mastercard, Discover	Skyfire agent wallet. Skyfire moves funds between buyer and seller wallets	Spending limits per agent	Not published	Agents that browse and buy across websites
Nevermined	Two-sided payments: agents spend within budgets, merchants charge agents	Fiat via Stripe and Braintree, stablecoins, delegated Visa cards, x402, MPP	Cards tokenized in a PCI vault, never exposed to the agent	Mandates with monthly budgets, per-transaction caps, expiry, one-click revoke	Free plan $0. Merchants pay 1% (stablecoin) or 2% (card)	Selling agent services and APIs to other agents
Payman	Governed AI agents that move money inside a bank or credit union app	The institution's own systems	The regulated institution. Payman states custody is never theirs	Policy layer, approvals, audit trail, kill switch	Not published (demo)	Banks and credit unions
Crossmint	Agent wallets, virtual cards for agents, stablecoin orchestration	Stablecoins, Visa virtual cards, x402, AP2	Non-custodial stablecoin wallets	Spending limits, merchant allowlists, approval above a threshold	Not published	Teams that want wallets and cards from one vendor
Coinbase (Agentic Wallets, x402)	Wallets agents use to hold, send, trade, and pay with stablecoins	Stablecoins on Base, Polygon, Solana. x402 on Base and Solana	Non-custodial wallets with keys in Coinbase TEEs	Session caps, per-transaction limits, KYT screening	Not published	Crypto-native agents
Stripe (machine payments, ACP)	Lets businesses accept payments from agents and sell through AI apps	Cards via Shared Payment Tokens. USDC over MPP (Tempo, Solana) and x402 (Base)	Settles to the seller's Stripe balance in fiat	Each Shared Payment Token has usage and expiry limits	Not published on the machine payments docs	Businesses on Stripe that want agents as customers
Visa Intelligent Commerce	Agent-specific card tokens, passkey step-up, controls tied to the user instruction	Visa cards	The cardholder's issuer	Controls that match purchases to the authenticated instruction	Free in sandbox. Production fees from Visa	Card checkout by agents
Mastercard Agent Pay	Registered agents pay with Mastercard network tokens and verified intent	Mastercard cards. Agent Pay for Machines covers cards to stablecoins	The cardholder's issuer	Registered agents only, explicit consent before a purchase	Not published	Network participants building agent checkout
Locus Pro	One account and prepaid balance for thousands of paid APIs, called from an agent	Credits bought by card. Locus pays catalog providers, including x402 and MPP ones	Prepaid credit balance in your Locus account. No crypto wallet	Balance check, monthly spend cap, tool and credential scopes, live-quote ceiling	Free plan, or monthly plans with included credits. Tools bill listed prices	Agents that pay for APIs and tools per call
Pay With Locus	Non-custodial agent wallets that pay for tools and send USDC	USDC on Base, gas sponsored by Locus	You. ERC-4337 smart wallet you can revoke agent access to	Allowances, per-transaction limits, approval thresholds	$0 per month. Each tool bills its published price	Agents that need their own USDC wallet

Do agentic payments use cards, stablecoins, or credits?

All three, and the choice decides who you can pay. Cards reach existing merchants. Stablecoins and HTTP 402 protocols reach APIs that price each call. Prepaid credits hide the rail from the agent entirely.

Card programs such as Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard Agent Pay issue tokens scoped to an agent. They fit shopping and checkout, where a merchant already takes cards. Stripe sets a $0.50 minimum for card payments through Shared Payment Tokens, so cards are a poor fit for sub-cent API calls.

Stablecoin protocols fit small, frequent payments. Stripe accepts USDC from 0.01 over MPP and x402. Coinbase runs an x402 facilitator on Base and Solana. Nevermined supports both x402 and MPP.

Locus Pro takes a different route. You buy credits once, and Locus settles with each provider, including x402 and MPP endpoints in its catalog. The agent sees a price and a result, not a wallet.

Who holds the money on each platform?

Custody falls into three groups. Know which one you are signing up for before you fund anything.

You hold the keys: Coinbase Agentic Wallets, Crossmint wallets, and Pay With Locus describe their wallets as non-custodial. The agent gets limited signing rights, not your keys.
A card issuer or bank holds it: Visa and Mastercard programs tokenize an existing card. Payman runs inside the institution, which holds funds and does KYC.
A prepaid balance: Skyfire wallets and Locus Pro credits are funded ahead of time and drawn down by agent activity.

What spending controls can you set on an agent?

Most platforms offer a budget and a per-transaction cap. They differ on approvals, allowlists, and when the check runs.

Nevermined mandates add expiry dates and one-click revocation. Crossmint adds merchant allowlists and human approval above a threshold. Coinbase adds session caps and transaction screening. Pay With Locus supports allowances, per-transaction limits, and approval thresholds on the wallet.

Locus Pro checks the balance before each call and returns HTTP 402 if it cannot cover the price. You can also set a monthly spend cap, scope which tools a credential can use, and set a hard ceiling on live-quoted calls. The use-case page AI Agent Spending Limits covers the wallet policy engine in detail.

Where does Locus fit, and where does it not?

Locus Pro is for agents that pay for APIs and tools. It gives one account and one prepaid balance across a large catalog of search, scraping, enrichment, model, and data APIs, called through hosted MCP, the Locus CLI, or the API. There are no per-provider accounts or keys, and the price shows before the call.

Locus is not a card issuer and not a checkout for retail websites. If your agent needs to buy a flight on an airline site with a card, a card program or Skyfire fits better. If you want agents to pay your own API, Stripe or Nevermined fit better.

For an agent that needs its own USDC wallet on Base, Pay With Locus offers non-custodial smart wallets with gas sponsored. The guide on the best wallet for an AI agent compares it with Coinbase, Circle, Crossmint, Privy, and Turnkey.

What should I check before choosing a platform?

Run one real payment of the kind your agent will make before you commit. Then check these points.

Can it pay the providers you need today, on the rail they accept?
Can the spend cap stop a runaway loop before money moves, not after?
Who holds funds, and what happens to them if you leave?
Does each charge record which agent made it and why?
Is the feature generally available, or in preview or sandbox only?

Frequently asked questions

Is Skyfire the same kind of product as Locus?

They overlap but aim at different jobs. Skyfire centers on agent identity (KYA) and payment tokens that let agents access and pay websites. Locus Pro centers on paying for API calls from one prepaid balance through MCP, CLI, or API.

Do I need crypto to use an agentic payment platform?

Not always. Card programs, Payman, and Locus Pro work without a crypto wallet. Locus Pro credits are bought by card. Coinbase, Crossmint wallets, and Pay With Locus use USDC.

What is the difference between x402 and MPP?

Both let a server answer a request with a price and let the client pay and retry. Stripe documents x402 for USDC on Base and MPP for USDC on Tempo and Solana, with cards through Shared Payment Tokens.

Can I use more than one platform?

Yes. A common split is a card program for checkout and a prepaid API balance or wallet for tool calls. Keep a separate spend cap on each so one agent cannot drain both.

Implementation references

Use these first-party references for current request contracts and account requirements. Tool availability, prices, and negotiated terms can change.

Sources

Third-party details were checked on September 29, 2026. Vendors change pricing and features often, so confirm on their site before you decide.