Pricing Philosophy
The philosophy and mechanics of knowledge pricing
What Is Knowledge Worth?
Traditional economics struggles with knowledge pricing:
Zero marginal cost to share (unlike physical goods)
Non-rival — your use doesn't diminish mine
Hard to preview — you don't know value until you have it
x402 approaches this differently: price reflects curation cost, not information scarcity.
The Curation Premium
Raw Information Is Cheap
Anyone can scrape the web. AI can generate infinite text. Raw data is abundant and becoming more so.
Curated Knowledge Is Expensive
What's genuinely scarce:
Human judgment — Deciding what matters
Verification — Confirming accuracy
Organization — Structuring for retrieval
Context — Understanding implications
Time — Years of accumulated expertise
x402 prices this curation layer, not the underlying information.
Pricing Tiers Explained
Micro Tier — $0.001
Use case: Existence checks, quick lookups
"Does this ATLAS know anything about prediction markets?"
Returns: Yes/no with concept count, no details
Standard Tier — $0.01
Use case: Concept definitions, basic queries
"What is Mana in prediction market context?"
Returns: Concept definition, related concepts, 2-3 key insights
Deep Tier — $0.10
Use case: Comprehensive topic analysis
"Explain the relationship between prediction markets and information aggregation"
Returns: Full concept graph, all insights, source content, action items
Premium Tier — $0.25
Use case: Expert synthesis, multi-domain queries
"How do prediction market dynamics relate to epistemology and collective intelligence?"
Returns: Cross-domain synthesis, novel connections, comprehensive analysis
Dynamic Pricing Factors
Base prices adjust based on:
Query Complexity
More concepts involved = higher price
Cross-domain queries = premium
Temporal analysis (trends) = premium
Knowledge Rarity
Common concepts = base price
Niche expertise = multiplier
Exclusive insights = premium
Freshness
Recent additions = premium
Evergreen content = standard
Historical queries = discount
Compute Intensity
Simple retrieval = base
Graph traversal = moderate
AI synthesis = premium
Comparison: x402 vs Alternatives
vs. Web Scraping
Cost
$2-10/query
$0.01-0.25/query
Time
30-60 sec
<2 sec
Reliability
Variable
Verified
Signal/Noise
Low
High
vs. Subscription APIs
Commitment
Monthly fee
Pay-per-use
Flexibility
Fixed access
Query-specific
Discovery
Limited
Open marketplace
Efficiency
Pay for unused
Pay for value
vs. Free Content
Quality
Variable
Curated
Reliability
Uncertain
Verified
Sustainability
Ad-supported
Direct value
Incentives
Engagement
Quality
Setting Your Prices
As a knowledge provider, you control:
Base Multiplier
Set your knowledge's base value relative to standard pricing:
0.5x = Budget tier
1.0x = Standard
2.0x = Premium expertise
5.0x = Rare/exclusive
Domain Premiums
Different knowledge areas can have different multipliers:
General knowledge = 1.0x
Professional expertise = 2.0x
Proprietary research = 5.0x
Access Restrictions
Public = anyone can query
Allowlist = approved agents only
Private = no x402 exposure
Economic Sustainability
For Knowledge Providers
Monthly revenue potential:
10
$0.05
$15
100
$0.05
$150
1,000
$0.05
$1,500
10,000
$0.05
$15,000
As agent economy grows, query volume scales.
For Knowledge Consumers
Cost comparison for 1,000 queries/month:
x402 Standard
$10
x402 Deep
$100
Web scraping
$2,000-10,000
Manual research
Priceless (time)
The Virtuous Cycle
x402 creates alignment:
Providers incentivized to improve quality
Consumers get better results
Ecosystem improves overall
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