ACP · AP2 · MCP · x402
Agentic commerce standards, compared and tracked
A neutral, up-to-date reference for the protocols that let AI agents buy, pay and act. One filterable comparison, a dated adoption tracker, and primary sources on every page.
In short: "agentic commerce" is online commerce where AI agents discover, decide and complete purchases on a person's behalf. Four open standards underpin it. ACP (OpenAI + Stripe) handles agent checkout and powers Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. AP2 (Google) is a payment-agnostic framework for authorizing agent-led payments. MCP (Anthropic, now Linux Foundation) is the context layer that connects agents to tools and data. x402 (Coinbase) carries native stablecoin payments over HTTP. They are complementary more than competing, and they are moving fast, so every fact here carries a verification date.
The four standards
Agentic Commerce Protocol
OpenAI and Stripe
Agent checkout protocol powering Instant Checkout in ChatGPT. OpenAI + Stripe, Apache 2.0.
verified 2026-05-31
Agent Payments Protocol
Google, with 60+ partner organizations
Payment-agnostic framework for agent-led payments. Google, 60+ partners, extends A2A and MCP.
verified 2026-05-31
Model Context Protocol
Created by Anthropic; donated to the Agentic AI Foundation (Linux Foundation)
The context layer connecting agents to tools and data. Anthropic, now a Linux Foundation project.
verified 2026-05-31
x402
Created by Coinbase; specification stewarded by the x402 Foundation
HTTP-native stablecoin payments for agents and APIs. Coinbase, built on the 402 status code.
verified 2026-05-31
ACP vs AP2 vs MCP vs x402
Author, license, payment type, transport, adoption: side by side, filterable.
Stay current on the standards
A note when a standard moves (ACP, AP2, MCP, x402). No spam.