Locus product guide · Updated November 10, 2026

Locus Pro vs AgentCash: credits or x402 pay-per-call

Locus Pro and AgentCash both let an AI agent pay for APIs per call with no provider keys, but Locus Pro bills prepaid credits bought by card through a hosted MCP server, while AgentCash pays x402 and MPP sellers from a USDC wallet on your machine. Pick AgentCash for up to $25 of free USDC, no account, and an agent that pays open-market sellers itself. Pick Locus Pro for card billing, OAuth sign-in from ChatGPT and Claude.ai, monthly hard limits, language models, and providers Locus has reviewed, such as Apollo.

How do Locus Pro and AgentCash compare?

AgentCash is a CLI, agent skill and local MCP server from Merit Systems. When an API answers with HTTP 402, its wallet pays the seller over x402 or MPP and retries the request. Locus Pro keeps one credit balance for you and pays providers on your behalf. The table uses each vendor's own pages on November 10, 2026.

How do Locus Pro and AgentCash compare?
Question	AgentCash	Locus Pro
How you sign in	No account. A wallet created on your machine under ~/.agentcash signs each payment and serves as your identity. Its docs say the private keys are stored in plaintext files.	Browser OAuth from your MCP client, with read and paid-call scopes. Secret keys and 30-day agent keys cover code that can't open a browser.
How you pay	USDC deposited to the wallet on Base, the default, or Solana. Each call pays the seller over x402 or MPP, with no subscription.	Prepaid credits bought by card through Stripe Checkout, with optional auto-reload. When a call goes to an x402 or MPP seller, Locus pays it and charges your credits.
Free start	Up to $25 in USDC after a review of the social accounts you connect, or credit from an invite code.	A Free plan at $0 a month, but no free credit. New accounts start at a zero balance.
Plans and call limits	No plans.	Free allows 5 tool calls a minute. Plus costs $20 a month, includes $20 of credits and allows 15. Enterprise starts at $200 a month.
Spend limits	A maximum amount per request, and a balance check before each payment. The wallet balance is the limit.	A max charge on each call, a monthly hard limit that stops new calls, spend and low-balance email alerts, and agent keys with per-call and per-run credit limits.
MCP setup	A local server started with npx agentcash and added per client, such as Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI or Claude Desktop.	A hosted server at api.paywithlocus.com/api/credits/mcp with browser sign-in, plus a plugin for Claude Code, Codex and Grok Build, and a CLI.
ChatGPT and Claude.ai	No ChatGPT setup in its docs. Its skill warns against onboarding inside Claude's sandboxed apps, and Claude Desktop and Cowork use a local MCPB bundle.	Both connect to the hosted server as a custom connector with OAuth.
Bring your own key	Not applicable. Paying per request replaces provider keys.	Enterprise only, through Custom APIs that call your own service with your own credential.
Team roles	None described. Several machines can share one wallet by setting the same private key.	Free and Plus are personal workspaces. Team access comes with Enterprise.
Billing your own customers	None described for buyers. Sellers can list their own APIs so agents find and pay for them.	Enterprise, through Locus Pro for Platforms: per-customer balances, your own customer prices, a billing widget and per-customer reconciliation.

What does each catalog cover?

AgentCash's docs say it reaches 3,200+ APIs. The table covers Merit Systems' own services, which AgentCash points agents to first, and notes the open market of other sellers, which was not checked one by one. Coverage checked November 10, 2026, with the sellers' published route lists and the Locus catalog search.

What does each catalog cover?
Category	AgentCash	Locus Pro
People, company and web research	StableEnrich: Exa, Firecrawl, People Data Labs, FullEnrich, Hunter email verification, Google Maps and Whitepages	Apollo, Hunter, BuiltWith, Firecrawl, Perplexity and Brave, plus seller listings such as StableEnrich and Exa
Apollo	Not on StableEnrich	People search, and people and organization enrichment
Social data	StableSocial: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Reddit	StableSocial listings Locus has not reviewed, plus listings parsed from the sites
Image and video generation	StableStudio: GPT Image, Nano Banana, Sora, Veo and Wan	Images from OpenAI, Stability AI, Grok and fal.ai
Email and file sharing	StableEmail for sending and StableUpload for share links	AgentMail, plus StableEmail listings Locus has not reviewed
Travel	StableTravel: flights, hotels, activities and transfers	A flight search Recipe, plus flight listings parsed from sites such as Skyscanner
Speech and transcription	Not among Merit's own services	ElevenLabs and Grok speech, and Deepgram transcription
LLM chat models	None among Merit's own services	OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq and OpenRouter, billed by tokens
Other x402 and MPP sellers	3,200+ APIs listed on x402scan and mppscan, per its docs	Seller listings in the same catalog, labeled when Locus has not reviewed them

Choose AgentCash if…

AgentCash is the better choice in these cases.

Your agent already holds USDC, or you want no account at all and are comfortable keeping a wallet key on the machine.
You want to try it free. AgentCash's onboarding gives up to $25 in USDC, and Locus Pro starts at a zero balance.
You want your agent to find and pay x402 and MPP sellers itself, across the open market listed on x402scan and mppscan.
You need Merit's own services, such as StableTravel for flights and hotels or StableStudio for Sora and Veo video.
You also sell an API and want agents to find and pay for it through the same network.

Choose Locus Pro if…

Locus Pro is the better choice in these cases.

You want to pay by card and keep no private keys or stablecoins on the machine.
You want account-level limits: a monthly cap that stops new calls, alerts, and agent keys with per-run limits. AgentCash's docs describe a per-request maximum only.
You work in ChatGPT or Claude.ai on the web. Locus Pro is a hosted MCP server with OAuth, while AgentCash runs locally.
You need Apollo, language models, ElevenLabs speech or Deepgram transcription.
You want providers that Locus has reviewed, with seller listings labeled when it hasn't.
You may bill your own customers per call later. Locus Pro for Platforms, on Enterprise, adds per-customer balances, your own prices and a billing widget.

Can one agent use AgentCash and Locus Pro together?

Yes. Add the AgentCash server and the Locus Pro server to the same client. One split is AgentCash for open-market sellers your agent pays itself, and Locus Pro for card-billed calls under a monthly cap.

The AgentCash wallet and your Locus Pro credits stay separate, so watch both.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need crypto to use Locus Pro?

No. You buy credits by card, and calls draw from that balance. When your agent calls an x402 or MPP seller in the Locus catalog, Locus pays the seller and charges your credits.

Is AgentCash free to start?

AgentCash has no subscription. Its onboarding gives up to $25 in USDC, based on a review of the social accounts you connect, and invite codes add credit. After that, each call pays the seller's listed price from your wallet.

Where does AgentCash keep my funds?

In a local wallet under ~/.agentcash on your machine. Its docs say the private keys are stored in plaintext files with restricted permissions, and that anyone with the keys can spend the USDC. Back them up and keep them out of version control.

Can my agent pay Locus with x402 or MPP instead of credits?

Yes, for Locus-managed APIs. Locus runs x402 and MPP endpoints for them that need no Locus account, though Locus spending controls don't apply there. Locus Pro credits add card billing, spending controls and one usage history.

Which agents does AgentCash support?

Its docs give setup for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, Warp, Gemini CLI, Goose and Zed as local MCP clients, plus an MCPB bundle for Claude Desktop and Cowork. No ChatGPT setup is listed. Locus Pro connects to ChatGPT and Claude.ai as a hosted custom connector.

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 November 10, 2026. Vendors change pricing and features often, so confirm on their site before you decide.