How it works Docs $METER
x402 · the agent payment standard

Pay per prompt.
No API key.

Meter is a pay-per-prompt AI gateway. Call the model, pay a tiny USDC micropayment on Solana per request — no accounts, no keys, no subscriptions. Built for humans and the agents that pay on their own.
See how it works
✓No signup ✓Per-request billing ✓Agent-native
POST /v1/promptidle
// type a prompt below — watch the 402 → pay → 200 handshake,
// then a live model response stream back. no key required.
sandbox · payment step simulatedpays 0.01 USDC / prompt
402 in one line a haiku why agents pay name my startup
The handshake

402 in, tokens out.

Every call is a self-contained transaction. No backend account to provision — the payment is the auth.

1
CLIENT
Call the model
POST your prompt to the gateway.
2
402
Payment Required
Gateway returns the price, asset & payTo.
3
SOLANA
Pay USDC
Client settles the micropayment on-chain.
4
200 OK
Get your tokens
Gateway verifies & returns the completion.
Why Meter

The way AI should be billed.

🔑

No API keys

Nothing to provision, rotate, or leak. The payment authorizes the call. Auth is the money.

🤖

Agent-native

Agents discover the price in the 402 and pay on their own — autonomous, machine-to-machine commerce.

📟

True pay-per-use

Pay for exactly one prompt. No seats, no monthly minimums, no idle subscriptions.

⚡

Instant settlement

USDC on Solana — sub-second, sub-cent finality. Micropayments that actually work.

🌐

Open standard

Built on x402 — the HTTP-native payment protocol. Any client that speaks it can pay.

🧩

Drop-in

One endpoint. Send a prompt, handle a 402, pay, retry. Works with curl, fetch, or an agent.

Integrate

Two requests. That's the SDK.

Get a 402, pay, retry with the receipt. No library required.

curl JavaScript 

    

  


  
  

    

      $METER
      
The token that meters the meter.

    

    

      

        
🔥
Buyback & burn
A share of every gateway fee buys back $METER and burns it. More prompts metered → less supply.

        
◎
Funds the network
$METER bankrolls rebates, bounties & builder rewards for apps and agents that route through Meter.

        
♾
The flywheel
More usage → more fees → more burn + bigger rewards → more apps plug in. It compounds.

      

      
Prompts metered➜Fees➜Buyback & burn + rewards