--- title: "ACP vs AP2: sourced differences | Agent Ready Checkout" description: "ACP vs AP2: ACP specifies checkout endpoints a merchant hosts (create, update, complete a session) and a delegated payment token. Verdicts by reader type." canonical: https://agentreadycheckout.com/compare/acp-vs-ap2 site: "Agent Ready Checkout" last_updated: 2026-11-04 section: "Head-to-heads" --- # ACP vs AP2: sourced differences | Agent Ready Checkout > ACP vs AP2: ACP specifies checkout endpoints a merchant hosts (create, update, complete a session) and a delegated payment token. Verdicts by reader type. Source: https://agentreadycheckout.com/compare/acp-vs-ap2 Site: Agent Ready Checkout Last reviewed: 2026-11-04 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](https://github.com/agentic-commerce-protocol/agentic-commerce-protocol), 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 - [Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)](https://agentreadycheckout.com/protocols/acp) - [Agent Payments Protocol (AP2)](https://agentreadycheckout.com/protocols/ap2) ## Sources 1. [ACP repository README](https://github.com/agentic-commerce-protocol/agentic-commerce-protocol), read 4 Nov 2026 2. [agenticcommerce.dev/](https://www.agenticcommerce.dev/), read 4 Nov 2026 3. [AP2 protocol site](https://ap2-protocol.org/), read 4 Nov 2026 4. [Stripe: Developing an open standard for agentic commerce](https://stripe.com/blog/developing-an-open-standard-for-agentic-commerce), read 4 Nov 2026 5. [ACP MAINTAINERS.md](https://github.com/agentic-commerce-protocol/agentic-commerce-protocol/blob/main/MAINTAINERS.md), read 4 Nov 2026 6. [cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/announcing-agents-to-payments-ap2-protocol), read 4 Nov 2026 7. [AP2 releases](https://github.com/google-agentic-commerce/AP2/releases), read 4 Nov 2026 Last reviewed 4 Nov 2026 ## Edition Matrix edition of 4 Nov 2026. Reviewed 4 Nov 2026, [7 sources](#sources-h). ## Method [How cells, sources and read dates are defined](https://agentreadycheckout.com/method)