Skip to main content
Did you know HTTP 402 has existed since 1997? Unlike other emerging technologies, this means every piece of the internet is equipped to understand this new protocol.

​
Who is x402 for?

  • Merchants: Service providers who want to monetize their APIs or content. x402 enables direct, programmatic payments from agents with minimal setup.
  • Agents: Human developers and AI agents seeking to access paid services without accounts or manual payment flows.
Both merchants and agents interact directly through HTTP requests, while payments are handled transparently through the protocol.

​
Use cases

x402 enables a range of use cases, including:
  • API services paid per request
  • AI agents that autonomously pay for API access
  • Paywalls for digital content
  • Microservices and tooling monetized via microtransactions
  • Proxy services that aggregate and resell API capabilities

​
How it works

x402 uses a simple request-response flow with programmatic payments. The flow of a payment using the x402 protocol At a high level:
  1. The buyer requests a resource from the server (e.g. an API call, see client/server roles)
  2. If payment is required, the server responds with a 402 Payment Required, including payment instructions.
  3. The buyer constructs and sends a payment payload.
  4. The server verifies and settles the payment via a facilitator. If valid, the server returns the requested resource.

​
Beyond legacy limitations

x402 is designed for a modern internet economy, solving key limitations of legacy systems:
  • Reduce fees and friction: Direct onchain payments without intermediaries, high fees, or manual setup.
  • Micropayments & usage-based billing: Charge per call or feature with simple, programmable pay-as-you-go flows.
  • Machine-to-machine transactions: Let AI agents pay and access services autonomously with no keys or human input needed.

​
Offload your infra

The x402 facilitator handles payment verification and settlement so that merchants don’t need to maintain their own blockchain infrastructure. Corbits offers a free, production-ready facilitator any merchant or agent can use. It is architected to support any client or middleware and optimized to land transactions on any chain creating a streamlined and performant experience for both merchants and agents.
Corbits supports x402 payments on any chain

​
Next steps

Start building

Get started with your first API call

Migrate to Corbits

Follow the checklist for an easy migration to Corbits