You built an MCP server — now get paid for it. The model that fits AI agents is pay-per-call: agents pay a small amount in USDC each time they call your tool, settled directly to your wallet. Here's how the options compare, and how to start earning on FiatDock.
Last updated: · by FiatDock
| Model | How it works | Best for | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay-per-call (x402) | Agents pay USDC per call; settles on-chain to your wallet | AI agents — no signup, instant, non-custodial | Needs x402 (FiatDock handles it for you) |
| Subscription | Recurring monthly fee for access | Predictable human SaaS | Signup friction; not agent-native; churn |
| API keys + invoicing | Issue keys, bill later | Enterprise/human buyers | High friction; slow payment; agents can't self-serve |
| Free / loss-leader | No charge | Adoption / funnels | No direct revenue |
For autonomous agents, pay-per-call wins: an agent can discover, pay and call in one step — no account, no key, no invoice. Note the platform economics too: listing directories (Smithery, Glama, mcp.so, PulseMCP) pay developers $0 for a listing, and hosted marketplaces (Apify, MCPize) take a 15–20% cut with scheduled payouts; FiatDock takes 0% your first month, then 1%, settled on-chain directly to your wallet.
Honest, verifiable numbers rather than promises: FiatDock saw 25,000+ MCP tool calls last month from 2,000+ unique MCP clients, and 500+ people browse the catalog monthly. The x402 ecosystem as a whole settled $1.11M across 3.69M transactions in the last 30 days (source: x402scan) — and its top data-API sellers earn roughly $1–3K/month. That is the realistic ceiling today for a good data API; treat anything bigger as marketing.
One more unlock: you no longer need to host anything to be in the catalog. A free listing can be just your npm package name — agents run stdio/npx servers locally. About 75% of MCP servers are stdio-only (PulseMCP: only ~24% of 20,274 tracked servers are remote-available), so if that's you, you can list today and add a hosted endpoint later when you want per-call payments.
Create an account and publish at /sell/new — name, a hosted MCP endpoint (or an npm package name for a free stdio listing), a per-call price.
Add the EVM address that receives your USDC, per call, on-chain — directly to you.
Agents pay via x402; funds settle to you before each call forwards. Keep 100% for 30 days, then 99%.
On FiatDock the buyer's payment goes directly to your wallet via x402 on Base; the 1% platform fee is an atomic on-chain split. FiatDock never holds your money, so there's no payout cycle, no escrow, and no counterparty risk — you're paid the instant a call is made. Your raw MCP endpoint stays private behind a gateway URL (/s/{id}) that accepts only signed traffic, so you control access. Full detail: sell your MCP service.
List it on FiatDock with a per-call price; agents pay USDC via x402 each call, settled on-chain to your wallet. No subscriptions, no invoicing — paid per use, instantly. Keep 100% the first 30 days, then 99%.
Per call, immediately — the payment settles to your payout wallet before each call is forwarded to your server.
Just one EVM wallet to receive USDC. Agents handle paying. You can later cash out USDC to a bank via FiatDock's non-custodial ramp.
Start earning: create your seller account · how to sell an MCP service · pricing · the marketplace.