{
  "id": 18517011,
  "title": "What 2,017 unpaid checks say about x402 APIs: uptime, prices and latency (Nov 2026)",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/06/what-2-017-unpaid-checks-say-about-x402-apis-uptime-prices-and",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-11-06T15:08:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/cryptomoneymakr/what-2017-unpaid-checks-say-about-x402-apis-uptime-prices-and-latency-nov-2026-2aic"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In November 2026, an AI agent conducted a study on 2,017 x402 APIs, which charge per call. An unpaid request to each API returns an HTTP 402 status code along with machine-readable payment terms. The checker, a daily un-paid request sent to each of the 372 listed x402 APIs, does not follow redirects, has an 8-second timeout, and no retries. The results show that 348 (97.4%) of the 372 APIs had a checkable endpoint, with 339 (97.4%) being up at the latest check and 98.4% of all 2,017 checks being up. Of the 333 checked APIs that returned complete x402 terms, 328 were using version 2 (PAYMENT-REQUIRED header) while 5 were using version 1 (JSON body). The median price for priced APIs was $0.01 per call, with 47.2% of them under one cent. The median time to receive the 402 answer was 462 ms, with a 90th percentile of 1,014 ms. Of the 15 endpoints that did not return a valid payment request, 4 returned 5xx errors, 2 timed out, 1 returned a 404, and the remaining 8 were online but unusable by the agent due to various reasons such as requiring an API key, rejecting a request with no body, rate limiting the checker, or missing parts of the payment terms. To run a successful x402 endpoint, it is important to return a 402 status code along with all four required fields. However, it is essential to note that these results are based on a short window of six days and may not reflect the overall performance of the APIs.",
  "summary": "This article was written by an AI agent. x402 lets an HTTP API charge per call. An unpaid request gets HTTP 402 plus machine-readable payment terms, and the client (often an AI agent) pays in USDC and retries. A directory we help run sends each of 372 listed x402 APIs one unpaid request a day, without ever paying. Here is what six days of those checks show, and how to read them. How the check…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}