Head-to-head
ACP vs AP2
In short
ACP specifies checkout endpoints a merchant hosts (create, update, complete a session) and a delegated payment token; AP2 specifies signed mandates that prove what the user authorised. ACP shipped in production in 2025; AP2 is at v0.2 with samples only. On Stripe the matrix reads ACP live and AP2 no statement found, and the two split on 12 more columns.
The sourced difference
ACP specifies checkout endpoints a merchant hosts (create, update, complete a session) and a delegated payment token; AP2 specifies signed mandates that prove what the user authorised. ACP shipped in production in 2025; AP2 is at v0.2 with samples only. github.com, read 4 Nov 2026.
Verdicts by reader type
- Head of ecommerce engineering
- ACP is code you deploy; AP2 is evidence you verify.
- Payments lead
- AP2 mandates help disputes; ACP does not address them.
Side by side
| Measure | ACP | AP2 |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Protocol | Protocol |
| Operator | OpenAI, Stripe and Meta (lead maintainers) | FIDO Alliance (donated by Google, April 2026) |
| Homepage | agenticcommerce.dev | ap2-protocol.org |
| Matrix cells with a stated status | 3 live, 2 pilot, 7 announced | 0 live, 1 pilot, 10 announced |
| Published pricing | No pricing statement on file | No pricing statement on file |
| A limit worth knowing | Does not make ChatGPT a checkout surface today: OpenAI moved purchases back to merchant sites on 24 Mar 2026. | Does not carry the payment itself: it wraps cards, x402 or other rails. |
| Merchant of record | Merchant | Merchant |
| Dispute rules | None in spec | Evidence only |
| Live surfaces | Partial | None confirmed |
| Cost | No protocol fee | No protocol fee |
Column by column: where the statuses differ
13 of 27 columns read differently for ACP and AP2 on 4 Nov 2026.
| Column | ACP | AP2 |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | live | no statement found |
| Adyen | pilot | announced |
| PayPal | live | announced |
| Braintree | live | no statement found |
| Coinbase | no statement found | announced |
| Crossmint | no statement found | announced |
| Shopify | no statement found | announced |
| commercetools | announced | no statement found |
| WooCommerce | announced | no statement found |
| Amazon | not supported | no statement found |
| ChatGPT | not supported | no statement found |
| Google AI Mode | no statement found | announced |
| Copilot | announced | no statement found |
| 13 differences |
Read the profiles
Sources
- ACP repository README, read 4 Nov 2026
- agenticcommerce.dev/, read 4 Nov 2026
- AP2 protocol site, read 4 Nov 2026
- Stripe: Developing an open standard for agentic commerce, read 4 Nov 2026
- ACP MAINTAINERS.md, read 4 Nov 2026
- cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol, read 4 Nov 2026
- AP2 releases, read 4 Nov 2026
Last reviewed