# x402 facilitators compared: Coinbase CDP vs PayAI vs Dexter

> What Coinbase CDP, PayAI, Dexter and self-hosting charge per x402 settlement, which catalog each lists you in, and which to pick for sub-cent APIs.

Published 2026-10-13. Source: https://toolvet.app/blog/x402-facilitators-compared

**Short answer:** pick Coinbase CDP if you want its Bazaar catalog and payment screening; it charges $0.001 per settlement after 1,000 free each month. Pick PayAI to start without an account or on chains Coinbase doesn't cover, but at $0.00218 per Base settlement it suits calls priced well above that. Dexter charges no facilitator fee. Run your own only if you need a chain or scheme nobody hosts.

[x402](https://www.x402.org) lets a client, often an AI agent, pay for an HTTP request in stablecoins, and every x402 payment passes through a facilitator. Your server hands it the buyer's signed payment, the facilitator checks the signature and the amount, submits the transfer on-chain and pays the gas. With the `exact` scheme the buyer signs a transfer straight to your address, so the money never sits with the facilitator. What the facilitator does decide is how much each payment costs you, which discovery catalog you end up in, and whether your server delivers at all.

We run ToolVet's own paid API on a facilitator, and we check tens of thousands of other x402 endpoints on a schedule. This is how the main options compare as of 13 October 2026. Prices change, sometimes daily, so the sources are linked.

## The short version

| | Coinbase CDP | PayAI | Dexter | Run your own |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account | CDP API key | None within the free allowance, then an API key and credits | None | None, but you fund a wallet that pays the gas |
| Free allowance | 1,000 settlements per month | 1,000 credits per receiving wallet, once | No facilitator fee | None |
| Price per settlement on Base after that | $0.001 | Gas plus 30%: $0.00218 today | No facilitator fee | The gas, about $0.0017 today |
| Discovery catalog | Coinbase's Bazaar | PayAI's own catalog | None that we could find | None |
| Sanctions and risk screening | OFAC and KYT on every transaction | Not in its docs | Not on its page | Up to you |
| Mainnets | Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, World, Solana | Base, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Sei, X Layer, SKALE | 11, including Base, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism and BNB Chain | Whatever you run |

Sources: [Coinbase's facilitator docs](https://docs.cdp.coinbase.com/x402/core-concepts/facilitator) and [FAQ](https://docs.cdp.coinbase.com/x402/support/faq), [PayAI's pricing docs](https://docs.payai.network/x402/facilitators/pricing) with its [live price table](https://facilitator.payai.network/pricing) and [supported networks](https://facilitator.payai.network/supported), and [Dexter's facilitator page](https://dexter.cash/facilitator). There are more: the x402 docs [list over a dozen facilitators](https://docs.x402.org/dev-tools/facilitators), several of them for a single chain.

## What it costs at agent prices

Half of the paid x402 endpoints we check charge $0.01 or less per call, and about 12% charge less than $0.0022. At those prices the per-settlement fee stops being a rounding error. This is the facilitator's share of each call on Base, once the free allowance is used up:

| Price per call | Coinbase CDP ($0.001) | PayAI ($0.00218) | Own facilitator (gas, ~$0.0017) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.002 | 50% | 109% | 85% |
| $0.005 | 20% | 44% | 34% |
| $0.01 | 10% | 22% | 17% |

At $0.002 per call on PayAI's Base rate, every settlement after the free allowance costs more than it brings in. The gas figure for running your own comes from PayAI's formula: it charges gas plus 30%, which puts a Base settlement's gas at about $0.0017 today. Running your own also costs a server, an RPC provider and your time.

What you can do about it:

- **Price above the fee.** An endpoint that charges $0.01 keeps 78% or more with any of these.
- **Settle in batches.** Coinbase lists a `batch-settlement` scheme on its EVM networks, and PayAI offers batch settlement too, which it calls a public preview. One on-chain transaction then covers many payments. Check that your buyers' clients support it before you rely on it.
- **Mind the free allowance's shape.** Coinbase's 1,000 settlements come back every month. PayAI's 1,000 credits are a one-time allowance per receiving wallet. Settlements before 21 September counted as one credit each; its pricing page now lists each settlement's cost in credits.

## Where it lists you

There is no shared x402 catalog. Each facilitator builds its own from the payments it settles, so the one you pick decides where agents can find you:

- **Coinbase CDP** puts you in the Bazaar, which Coinbase calls "the most comprehensive marketplace for x402 endpoints".
- **PayAI** lists you in its own catalog at `/discovery/resources`.
- **Dexter** and **your own facilitator**: we found no catalog.

Directories that crawl endpoints themselves, such as x402scan and ToolVet, work with any facilitator. If you're missing from a catalog you expected, we wrote up [the usual causes](https://toolvet.app/blog/x402-endpoint-not-in-bazaar).

## Accounts, keys and compliance

**Coinbase CDP** needs a Coinbase Developer Platform API key. In return it screens every payment against sanctions lists and Know-Your-Transaction risk data and declines the risky ones. A declined or failed settlement isn't billed, and verification is always free.

**PayAI** needs nothing to start: payments within the free allowance work without an API key. After that you need a key and credits, which you buy in its merchant dashboard. An agent can also buy them over x402 without a signup.

**Dexter** says it needs no account and charges no facilitator fee.

**Running your own** means holding a hot wallet with gas money on every chain you support, keeping an RPC connection and the service up, and getting signature and replay checks exactly right. Open-source options exist, such as [x402-rs](https://docs.rs/crate/x402-rs) and the open-source facilitators on the x402 docs' list. It makes sense if you need a chain or a scheme nobody hosts, or if you settle enough volume that the per-settlement fees outgrow an engineer's time.

## For testing

The public facilitator at `x402.org` is for testnets: it doesn't support Base mainnet. PayAI settles testnet payments for free without touching your allowance, and Coinbase supports Base Sepolia. Test on a testnet, then switch the network and the facilitator together.

## Switching is cheap; trust is the real decision

With the official TypeScript SDK, the facilitator is one object:

```ts
import { HTTPFacilitatorClient } from "@x402/core/server";
import { createFacilitatorConfig as cdpConfig } from "@coinbase/x402";
import { createFacilitatorConfig as payaiConfig } from "@payai/facilitator";

// Coinbase CDP: needs an API key
const cdp = new HTTPFacilitatorClient(cdpConfig(process.env.CDP_API_KEY_ID, process.env.CDP_API_KEY_SECRET));

// PayAI: uses PAYAI_API_KEY_ID / PAYAI_API_KEY_SECRET when set, the free allowance otherwise
const payai = new HTTPFacilitatorClient({ ...payaiConfig(), url: "https://facilitator.payai.network" });

// Any other facilitator: its URL
const other = new HTTPFacilitatorClient({ url: "https://x402.dexter.cash" });
```

Your pay-to address stays the same, so switching moves no money. The catch is in the other direction: your server delivers when the facilitator says a payment is valid. A facilitator that gets that wrong has you working for free, and one that is down turns every paid request into an error. That's why ToolVet refuses to start in production with a facilitator URL it doesn't know, unless that's set explicitly. Pick on uptime and track record as much as on price.

## How to choose

- **You want the biggest catalog and payment screening:** Coinbase CDP, if a CDP account works for you.
- **You want to start today without an account, or need Avalanche, Sei, X Layer or SKALE:** PayAI. ToolVet started on PayAI for exactly that reason, and our endpoints showed up in its catalog after one paid call each.
- **You charge a fraction of a cent per call:** do the math in the second table before you pick, and look at batch settlement.
- **You need full control or a chain nobody hosts:** run your own.

## Frequently asked questions

### What does an x402 facilitator do?

It checks the buyer's signed payment, submits the transfer on-chain and pays the gas, so your server needs no blockchain node and no wallet with gas. With the `exact` scheme the money goes straight from the buyer to your address.

### Is there a free x402 facilitator?

For testing, the public x402.org facilitator supports testnets. On mainnet, Coinbase's first 1,000 settlements each month are free, PayAI gives each receiving wallet 1,000 free credits once, and Dexter says it charges no facilitator fee.

### Can I switch facilitators later?

Yes. It's a configuration change, and your pay-to address stays the same. Catalog listings follow the facilitator that settles, so the new one lists your endpoints once it has settled a payment for each.

Whichever you choose, you can check how your endpoints look to agents: [submit them to ToolVet](https://toolvet.app/submit) for a free check, or see [how we score](https://toolvet.app/methodology).