AI agents that read the web usually inherit a subscription, an API key, or a scraper plan. There is a narrower option: pay per page, only for accepted reads.
ScriptMasterLabs has settled 96 x402 payments on Base since 2026-09-02 (counted from BaseScan against the payTo wallet; method published at scriptmasterlabs.com/x402-statistics), and its URL-to-Markdown route is the proven job on that rail.
Measured live on 2026-10-15
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GET /api/web/read-markdown?url=https://example.com→ HTTP 402 in 0.67 s. The x402 challenge quotes $0.001 (1,000 atomic USDC, Base mainnet, eip155:8453) per accepted read. - The free preview route returned a real extraction of example.com with
charged: false. - Failed fetches are not charged. There is no API key, no account, no subscription — the 402 challenge is the entire checkout.
Honest scope
- One known public HTTPS URL → clean Markdown. No JavaScript execution.
- Need JS-rendered pages or whole-site crawling? Firecrawl is the broader tool, and at full subscription volume it can be cheaper per page. Jina Reader adds flexible fetch/render options.
- Need one deterministic page read inside an agent loop, priced per call with a settlement receipt? That is the job this route is built for.
Full product page with the live-probe evidence, method notes and claim receipts: the canonical link on this article.
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