# 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.

[7 Pay](/category/pay/) [Cloudflare Pay per crawl](/protocols/cloudflare-pay-per-crawl/) · [7 Pay](/category/pay/) [x402](/protocols/x402/)

|  | [Cloudflare Pay per crawl](/protocols/cloudflare-pay-per-crawl/) | [x402](/protocols/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://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](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)).

Guidance is derived from the two records (question, phase, adoption, prerequisites, pairings), not from opinion. Each record's page carries its numbered references.

## Read the full articles

- [Cloudflare Pay per crawl](/protocols/cloudflare-pay-per-crawl/): How can a site charge an AI crawler per request, and how does the crawler agree to pay?
- [x402](/protocols/x402/): How can an HTTP client pay per-request or per-resource, in stablecoins, without accounts, API keys, or signup?

Ask the MCP server to compare any two: the compare-protocols prompt, or get on both ids. [Connect](/connect/).

[cloudflare-pay-per-crawl.json](/data/protocols/cloudflare-pay-per-crawl.json) · [x402.json](/data/protocols/x402.json) · [Markdown](/compare/cloudflare-pay-per-crawl-vs-x402/index.md)