Cloudflare Pay per crawl vs x402
Both belong to the HTTP 402 family group on this map. The map lists them as complementary: sites and agents commonly implement both.
| Cloudflare Pay per crawl | x402 | |
|---|---|---|
| Lifecycle step | 7 Pay: Settle the bill | 7 Pay: Settle the bill |
| Answers | How can a site charge an AI crawler per request, and how does the crawler agree to pay? | How can an HTTP client pay per-request or per-resource, in stablecoins, without accounts, API keys, or signup? |
| Governed by | Cloudflare (single vendor) | x402 Foundation, a Series of LF Projects, LLC (Linux Foundation); operational launch announced 2026-07-14; Executive Director Michael Hursta from 2026-10-01; 50+ members |
| Status (issuer's words) | Closed beta; documentation updated 2026-07-28 | Open, neutral standard for internet-native payments |
| Phase | candidate | living |
| Version | closed beta (2026-07-28) | x402 protocol specification v2, transports-v2/http.md |
| Form / transport | HTTP header | HTTP header |
| Found at | HTTP 402 response carrying a crawler-price header | none — signalled per-request via the 402 status code, not a fixed well-known path |
| Adoption | unmeasured | claimed — x402 Foundation (x402.org live dashboard) |
| Evidence | 1 verified, 1 reported | 5 verified |
| Primary use case | Accept payments from agents | Accept payments from agents |
| Last verified | 2026-10-16 (current) | 2026-10-19 (current) |
| Specification | https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-crawl-control/features/pay-per-crawl/what-is-pay-per-crawl/ | https://github.com/x402-foundation/x402/blob/main/specs/transports-v2/http.md |
When to use which
- Choose Cloudflare Pay per crawl when your question is “How can a site charge an AI crawler per request, and how does the crawler agree to pay?” and you accept its maturity: phase candidate, adoption unmeasured.
- Choose x402 when your question is “How can an HTTP client pay per-request or per-resource, in stablecoins, without accounts, API keys, or signup?” and you accept its maturity: phase living, adoption claimed (x402 Foundation (x402.org live dashboard)).
Read the full articles
- Cloudflare Pay per crawl: How can a site charge an AI crawler per request, and how does the crawler agree to pay?
- x402: How can an HTTP client pay per-request or per-resource, in stablecoins, without accounts, API keys, or signup?