--- title: "Agent Pay for Machines: protocol profile | Agent Ready Checkout" description: "Mastercard Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M): Mastercard's machine-to-machine payment service for agents buying digital. Matrix status, facts and sources." canonical: https://agentreadycheckout.com/protocols/agent-pay-for-machines site: "Agent Ready Checkout" last_updated: 2026-11-04 section: "Protocols" --- # Agent Pay for Machines: protocol profile | Agent Ready Checkout > Mastercard Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M): Mastercard's machine-to-machine payment service for agents buying digital. Matrix status, facts and sources. Source: https://agentreadycheckout.com/protocols/agent-pay-for-machines Site: Agent Ready Checkout Last reviewed: 2026-11-04 Protocol profile # Mastercard Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M) In short Mastercard's machine-to-machine payment service for agents buying digital services, built on x402 with MPP compatibility, settling across cards, accounts and stablecoins; Early Access opened 20 Oct 2026. For Agent Pay for Machines, merchant of record is seller of the service and dispute rules are not published. Announced but not yet live: Stripe, Adyen, Checkout.com, and 4 more. ## Fact sheet Type Protocol Operator Mastercard Homepage [ap4m.build](https://ap4m.build/info) Matrix reach 0 live, 1 pilot, 7 announced, 0 not supported, 19 with no statement found ## Readiness for merchants Seven rows, each read from a primary source on 4 Nov 2026. The [method page](https://agentreadycheckout.com/method) defines every row. | Rubric row | Reading | Evidence | Source and read date | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Specification public | Partial | Builds on the public x402 spec; Mastercard APIs are in Early Access. | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Reference implementation | Early access | Toolkit and sandbox at ap4m.build. | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Live surfaces | None | Pilots and Early Access only. | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Processor support | Announced | Ten named processors and enablers as initial participants. | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Merchant of record | Seller of the service | Aimed at digital services sold per call; the seller receives settlement. | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Dispute rules | Not published | No dispute treatment published. | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Cost | Not published | No fee published. | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | ## The row in full: every column | Column | Status | Note | Source and read date | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Stripe | announced | Named among AP4M initial participants | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Adyen | announced | Named among AP4M initial participants | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | PayPal | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | developer.paypal.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Checkout.com | announced | Named among AP4M initial participants | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Braintree | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | developer.paypal.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Worldpay | announced | Global Payments named among AP4M initial participants | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Coinbase | pilot | Completed end-to-end AP4M pilot before Early Access opened | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Crossmint | announced | Named among AP4M initial participants as the agent's PSP | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Skyfire | announced | Named among AP4M initial participants | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | PayOS | announced | Named among AP4M initial participants | mastercard.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Shopify | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | shopify.dev, 4 Nov 2026 | | BigCommerce | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | bigcommerce.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Salesforce CC | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | salesforce.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Adobe Commerce | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | experienceleague.adobe.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | commercetools | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | docs.commercetools.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | WooCommerce | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | woocommerce.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Amazon | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | aboutamazon.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Walmart | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | corporate.walmart.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Target | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | corporate.target.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Etsy | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | help.etsy.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Wayfair | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | aboutwayfair.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | ChatGPT | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | chatgpt.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Google AI Mode | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | developers.google.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Perplexity | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | perplexity.ai, 4 Nov 2026 | | Amazon Rufus | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | aboutamazon.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Meta Muse | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | about.fb.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | Copilot | no statement found | no statement found (2026-11-04) | about.ads.microsoft.com, 4 Nov 2026 | | | | 1 live or pilot of 27 | | | | ## What Agent Pay for Machines does not do - Is not a consumer checkout program. - Is not generally available: Early Access since 20 Oct 2026. - Does not publish fees or dispute rules. ## Sourced facts - Mastercard launched Agent Pay for Machines on 10 Jun 2026 for permissioned, orchestrated machine payments settled across cards, accounts and stablecoins. [mastercard.com](https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/june/mastercard-launches-agent-pay-for-machines.html), read 4 Nov 2026. - AP4M names four capabilities: credentialing (with Verifiable Intent), permissioning (programmatic rules and spend limits), transacting and settling. [mastercard.com](https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/june/mastercard-launches-agent-pay-for-machines.html), read 4 Nov 2026. - The June release cites open standards like x402 and "Machine Payments Protocol compatibility". [mastercard.com](https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/june/mastercard-launches-agent-pay-for-machines.html), read 4 Nov 2026. - Initial participants named include Adyen, Checkout.com, Cloudflare, Coinbase, Crossmint, Global Payments, PayOS, Skyfire, Stripe and Tempo. [mastercard.com](https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/june/mastercard-launches-agent-pay-for-machines.html), read 4 Nov 2026. - On 20 Oct 2026 at Cloudflare Connect, Mastercard said AP4M builds on x402 and opened Early Access with buyer- and seller-side APIs, a toolkit, sandbox and documentation. [mastercard.com](https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/october/Mastercard-Agent-Pay-for-Machines-in-action.html), read 4 Nov 2026. - End-to-end pilots before Early Access ran with Cloudflare, Ant International, AIsa, Base, BVNK, Coinbase and Hype. [mastercard.com](https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/october/Mastercard-Agent-Pay-for-Machines-in-action.html), read 4 Nov 2026. ## In the vendors section - [Mastercard](https://agentreadycheckout.com/vendors/mastercard), card network profile ## Compare and alternatives - [Mastercard Agent Pay vs Agent Pay for Machines](https://agentreadycheckout.com/compare/mastercard-agent-pay-vs-agent-pay-for-machines) - [x402 vs Agent Pay for Machines](https://agentreadycheckout.com/compare/x402-vs-agent-pay-for-machines) ## Sources 1. [ap4m.build/info](https://ap4m.build/info), read 4 Nov 2026 2. [Mastercard launches Agent Pay for Machines](https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/june/mastercard-launches-agent-pay-for-machines.html), read 4 Nov 2026 3. [Watch Mastercard Agent Pay for Machines in action](https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/october/Mastercard-Agent-Pay-for-Machines-in-action.html), read 4 Nov 2026 4. [mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/october/Mastercard-Agent-Pay-for-Machines-in-action.html](https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/october/Mastercard-Agent-Pay-for-Machines-in-action.html), read 4 Nov 2026 Last reviewed 4 Nov 2026 ## Edition Matrix edition of 4 Nov 2026. Reviewed 4 Nov 2026, [4 sources](#sources-h). ## Method [How cells, sources and read dates are defined](https://agentreadycheckout.com/method)