Cloudflare has announced the closed beta of its Monetization Gateway, a service that enables businesses to charge AI agents for accessing digital resources based on actual usage.
The service is designed for the growing use of AI agents to browse websites, access application programming interfaces (APIs), use digital tools and retrieve data on behalf of users. Instead of relying on traditional subscriptions, accounts or prepaid balances, agents can discover prices, make payments and access resources directly within the HTTP request process.
Cloudflare Monetization Gateway allows businesses to introduce usage-based pricing for websites, APIs, Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools and datasets without building their own payment infrastructure. Sellers can define which requests require payment, set prices and determine where payments are directed.
The Gateway uses the HTTP 402 Payment Required status code to deliver payment instructions within a request, removing the need for a separate checkout process. Cloudflare manages payment verification, settlement, failed transactions, retries and analytics. Payments currently settle on the Base blockchain using USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.
Cloudflare is already applying the technology across several services. Its AI Gateway allows eligible US customers to pay for inference requests on selected AI models at the time of use. Search provider Ceramic.ai uses the service to charge AI agents for individual searches without requiring API keys, while financial social network Stocktwits offers market signals to agents on a per-request basis.
API2PDF is also using Monetization Gateway to provide PDF-generation services without requiring users or AI agents to create accounts or obtain API keys. Its pricing model allows agents to receive a maximum price for a request and pay according to actual consumption.
For businesses, the service creates a way to make digital resources available to AI agents as a new category of customers while retaining control over pricing and access. Pricing rules can be configured using request details, including URLs, headers and query parameters.
Cloudflare plans to expand the Gateway with additional payment methods, transaction logs, agent discovery capabilities and identity features. The launch reflects the development of agentic commerce, in which AI systems independently purchase data, computing services and digital tools while carrying out tasks for users.
