AgentPay provides flexible ways for you to define how users are charged for your MCP server tools and an option to offer introductory free credits.

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Charging for Tool Usage: Per-Call Pricing

Currently, AgentPay supports a straightforward and adaptable charge-per-call model. This means you define a cost in cents each time one of your monetized tools is successfully executed via the consume() method.

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How it Works:

  1. Set amount_cents Dynamically: When you call agentpay_client.consume(..., amount_cents=X, ...) in your server code, you specify the value of X (the cost in cents) for that particular transaction.
  2. Flexibility: This model allows for:
    • Flat Rate per Call: Charge the same amount every time a specific tool is called. For example, a simple information retrieval tool might always cost 5 cents.
    • Dynamic Pricing per Call: You can vary the amount_cents based on the complexity, resources consumed, or output generated by that specific tool invocation. For instance:
      • A text generation tool could charge more for longer outputs.
      • A data analysis tool could charge based on the volume of data processed.
      • You can implement your own logic to calculate the amount_cents before calling consume().
AgentPay’s flexible pricing model is complemented by robust payment handling. The system automatically manages complex scenarios like insufficient funds and outstanding payments, allowing you to focus on implementing your pricing strategy without worrying about payment edge cases.
To learn more about exactly how to implement this in your code, please refer to our Charging for Usage Guide.

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Future Enhancements:

We are actively working on expanding our pricing model capabilities. Future additions will include support for:
  • Flat-Rate Subscriptions: Offer users unlimited access or a high volume of calls for a recurring fee (e.g., monthly).
  • Rate-Based Limits: Define usage tiers with different rate limits.
  • And more advanced pricing strategies.

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Freemium: Offering Free Credits to New Users

To help users get started and experience the value of your MCP server, AgentPay allows you to offer free introductory credits to new users when they first obtain an API key for your server.

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How it Works:

  • Toggle Freemium: In the AgentPay Hub, when configuring your MCP Server, you can choose to enable or disable the “Freemium” option for new User API Keys (enabled by default).
  • Set Credit Amount: You can specify the amount of free credit (in USD) that each new user receives.
  • Default Setting: By default, Freemium is TURNED ON for new servers, and the initial credit amount is set to $1.00 (100 cents).

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Benefits:

  • Lower Barrier to Entry: Users can test your services without an immediate payment commitment.
  • Increased Adoption: Allows users to verify that your tools meet their needs before they decide to top up their balance for continued usage.

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Future Enhancements for Free Tiers:

We plan to introduce more sophisticated free tier options in the future, such as:
  • True Free Tiers with Rate Limits: Allow ongoing free usage up to certain daily/monthly limits.
  • Tool-specific Granularity: Different tiers for different tools.
  • Promo Codes: Offer promotional credits or discounts.

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Next Steps