The safe monetization layer for MCP servers and APIs · Open corePrivate Beta

Monetize MCP servers
and APIs in 5 minutes.

Paste your URL, set a per-call price, and share a buy link. Buyers prepay by card; agents call with spend-capped Pay Tokens.

Live today: x402 gateway / Stripe-backed Pay Token / spend caps / usage ledger. No crypto wallet. First 3,000 calls free, then 3%. Sellers keep 97%.

97%
Seller keeps
3,000
Free calls
0
Crypto wallets
LemonCake — AI agent payment infrastructure
tool-server.ts
import { createLemonCakeSDK } from "@lemon-cake/mcp-sdk";

const lc = createLemonCakeSDK(); // demo mode without env vars

// HTTP route — one line.
app.use(lc.protect("/api/search", { cost: 0.02 }));

// Or an MCP tool — same idea.
server.tool("search", lc.charge({ price: 0.02 }), handler);

Drop-in MCP middleware. Works with any MCP SDK. Free for your first 3,000 calls.

How it works

Four boxes between you
and per-call revenue.

STEP 1
Your API
Anything HTTP
STEP 2
Gateway
We add a URL prefix
STEP 3
Paid access
Buyer pays via Pay Token
STEP 4
Revenue
97% to you, 3% to us

You change one URL. We do gateway routing, Pay Token verification, rate limiting, usage metering, and Stripe-backed seller payouts.

Why developers use LemonCake

Built for the things
payment infra makes annoying.

Six things you stop worrying about after wiring up LemonCake.

Usage-based billing

Charge per tool call, per token, per outcome. Sub-cent micro-payments work natively — no minimum transaction size, no Stripe-style $0.30 floor.

AI agent payments

Agents pay your endpoint directly with one-time spend caps. No human in the loop, no API-key sharing, no "reset my credentials" support tickets.

No API-key management

Stop issuing, rotating, and revoking keys. Buyers authenticate once at install time; you never touch their secrets.

Stripe-backed payout

Buyers fund Pay Tokens by card. Sellers receive payouts through Stripe Connect Direct Charge; LemonCake never pools customer funds.

No crypto onboarding

Your buyers don't need a blockchain wallet, seed phrase, or exchange account. They pay by card and hand agents scoped Pay Tokens.

MCP-native

Drop-in middleware for any MCP server. Auto-listing on Bazaar + Glama + Smithery + mcp.so + Claude Code Plugins Directory.

The billing stack today

Stripe is for humans. Orb & Metronome are for SaaS.
LemonCake is for AI.

Existing billing infra assumes a human swipes a card and an org renews a seat. AI APIs charge sub-cent per call to a non-human caller. Different shape — different stack.

StripeOrb / MetronomeLemonCake
Meter + invoice + pay in one SDKPay onlyMeter + invoice (pay via Stripe)Yes
AI agent as buyerCard-onlyOrg-billed onlyNative
Sub-cent per call$0.30 effective floorAllowed, but Stripe-billed$0.005
MCP / agent middlewareDrop-in
No API-key managementKeys still requiredKeys still requiredEmbedded auth
Free tierStripe rates applyEnterprise tiers1k tx / mo, gas covered
Open-source SDKClosedClosedMIT
Setup timeConnect onboardingImplementation engineerOne env var

We don't replace Stripe for human checkout. We're the stack you want when the buyer is an AI agent.

Not just billing — abuse prevention

We block runaway agents.
Before they cost you anything.

Pay Token spend caps + rate limits are checked at the gateway. A misbehaving agent in an infinite loop hits the wall instantly — your API never sees the request, your AWS bill never moves. The blocked-request feed in your dashboard shows you what we caught.

Blocked request feed (sample)
14:21:08spend_cap_exceeded$12.40
14:19:55rate_limit_exceeded$0.78
14:15:02permit_revoked$0.04
14:11:30spend_cap_exceeded$8.20

Sample data — live feed lands Q3 2026.

Coming Q3 2026 · Early access

Margin dashboard.

AI cost vs. revenue per agent, per endpoint, per token. Catch margin leaks before they compound. The metric Stripe / Orb / Metronome don't natively show — because their buyers don't have $0.50 of OpenAI cost behind every $0.05 of revenue. Yours do.

Join early access →

Open core, like Supabase & Clerk

Fork the SDK.
Let us host the boring stuff.

Pure-OSS billing infra dies the moment funding does. Pure-SaaS billing infra is lock-in by design. Open core is the only honest middle: MIT-licensed SDK + hosted execution. If we vanish, your integration keeps working.

Open · MIT

What you can fork

  • @lemon-cake/mcp-sdk
  • @lemon-cake/x402-server
  • agent-payment-mcp
  • examples/* (starter templates)
  • MCP adapters (Claude / Cursor / LangChain)
  • All docs and migration guides
Hosted

What we run as a service

  • Billing engine (settlement, ledger)
  • Revenue routing & payout logic
  • Dashboard (analytics, payouts, abuse)
  • Compliance (tax, invoicing, reporting)
  • Fraud / abuse detection
  • Hosted gateway & uptime SLA

MIT · Supabase / Clerk / Resend pattern · 5 production MCPs published

Safety rails

Kill switch

One-click revoke on the dashboard. Subsequent charges return 422 atomically.

Tiered limits (KYA)

$10/day default → $1k/day with Know-Your-Agent → $50k/day with full KYC.

Sandbox mode

Issue test tokens that match production behavior without moving real funds.

Launch Plan · Private Beta

Let your AI agent
pay for any API.

A spend-capped Pay Token your agent pays with — no crypto wallet, no per-call key. First 3,000 calls free, then 3%. Custody-free; you keep 97%.

No credit card. Manual onboarding (~24h) during Private Beta.