Pricing

DataCork implements the x402 protocol. When your agent makes a request that requires payment, DataCork returns HTTP 402 with a payment quote in the response headers. The agent's x402-compatible wallet (powered by Coinbase CDP on Base network) reads the quote, signs a USDC payment, and retries the request with a X-Payment header. DataCork verifies the payment on-chain and routes the request. The whole round trip adds <200ms on the retry leg. No subscription, no billing dashboard to watch, no surprise invoices.

Yes. You can top up a DataCork credit balance via Stripe (card, ACH, or SEPA). Credits are consumed in place of USDC payments. This is how most human developers use DataCork for the Pro tier — direct USDC is more common for fully autonomous agents where a wallet is part of the agent's runtime. Both billing modes coexist in the same account.

No. Free tier uses a quota system — 1,000 x402 transactions per month are pre-authorized without any payment. Once you hit 1,000, requests block until the next billing period (or you upgrade). A wallet is only required if you want to pay overages in USDC rather than let requests block.

Behavior depends on tier. Free: requests return 429 until the period resets (no overage charge; safe default). Pro/Team: requests continue at the overage rate charged to your credit balance or USDC wallet. You can set a hard cap in the dashboard that converts to the Free behavior instead. Business: unlimited — no cap, no overage rate. If your credit balance runs out, Pro/Team requests block until you top up.

DataCork logs connection metadata for billing and audit purposes: session ID, timestamp, bytes transferred, exit node used, and your account identifier. We do not log traffic content, DNS queries, or payload data. Metadata retention follows your tier's audit log window. Swiss law applies. Logs are stored in immutable WORM storage and cannot be deleted before their retention window expires even by us. We will notify you of any valid legal process before disclosure unless prohibited by law.

Yes, on Team and Business tiers. BYO-node federation lets you add your own WireGuard/Rosenpass nodes to the DataCork exit pool. Your agents can route to them via the same MCP interface without exposing the node's real IP to the agent. This is useful for on-premises exit, private data center egress, or regulatory reasons. Federation configuration is managed via Terraform provider or the dashboard; it requires a routable node with the DataCork orchestrator agent installed (30-second setup via cloud-init).

Tailscale is a mesh VPN for connecting machines in a private network. DataCork is an egress service: your agent routes outbound traffic through DataCork's exit nodes to appear in a specific geography with a clean IP. They’re complementary, not competing. Windscribe is a consumer VPN optimized for humans streaming video; no MCP, no x402, no agent primitives. Browserbase is managed browser infrastructure for scraping; DataCork provides network-layer egress usable by any HTTP client, not just headless browsers.

Self-serve cancellation is in the dashboard under Settings → Billing → Cancel plan. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you retain access until then. USDC credits are non-refundable per the Terms of Service. Card credits are refundable within 14 days of top-up if unused. Data export (session logs, audit events) is available for 30 days after cancellation.