Cloudflare moves charging AI agents into beta

According to Search Engine Journal, Cloudflare has put two AI payment products into beta: Monetization Gateway and Pay Per Use. Both aim to attach money to how AI agents and AI companies access web content, APIs and datasets.

How does Monetization Gateway work?

The Gateway charges for each request at a price the seller sets; the resource can be an API, an MCP tool, a dataset or a site. When an agent reaches a protected resource, it first receives the payment terms, signs a payment authorisation and retries the request. The system uses the HTTP 402 Payment Required status code and the x402 protocol. With variable pricing, settlements start from $0.001 and prices go up to $100. Payments are processed in the USDC stablecoin on the Base network through Coinbase.

How does Pay Per Use pay publishers?

Pay Per Use pays for what happens after access rather than for access itself, for example an answer in AI search that cites a source. The AI company defines the use it will pay for and sets the price; the publisher accepts or declines the offer. Usage records rest on the buyer's own reports: a timestamp, the source URL and an event ID. Cloudflare checks that each report matches an enrolled publisher, bills the buyer and pays publishers every month. During the beta the buyers are not named.

What should publishers and API owners do?

The Gateway is in closed beta; buyers and sellers must be based in the United States, and Cloudflare says support for new geographies is 'on the way'. The source also publishes no transaction counts or payout figures. For now, the value is in preparation:

• If you serve your site through Cloudflare, decide in advance which content or APIs you would open to AI agents and which stay closed.
• When weighing Pay Per Use offers, bear in mind that usage records rest on the buyer's reports and that offers also cover restrictions on training.
• Do not put this in your revenue plan until the beta produces transaction counts and payout data.