ACP vs AP2
Are you choosing commerce operations or an authorization model?
ACP provides commerce interaction specifications; AP2 addresses payment authority. Similar agentic-commerce vocabulary does not make one a replacement for the other. Confirm the chosen ACP integration’s supported payment and authorization route. Do not infer AP2 support unless the implementation’s official documentation establishes it.
What this establishes
A practical way to inspect evidence and make the next merchant decision.
What it cannot establish
Live merchant deployment, private account eligibility, purchase completion or guaranteed AI selection.
The overlap
ACP provides commerce interaction specifications; AP2 addresses payment authority. Similar agentic-commerce vocabulary does not make one a replacement for the other.
The merchant decision
Confirm the chosen ACP integration’s supported payment and authorization route. Do not infer AP2 support unless the implementation’s official documentation establishes it.
Where they overlap.
Where they complement.
Compare roles and implementation work. A shared capability does not make two systems interchangeable.
| Decision dimension | ACP | AP2 |
|---|---|---|
| Layer | Commerce | Identity & trust |
| Role | Defines commerce interactions; OpenAI also documents structured product feed ingestion. | Uses linked checkout/payment mandates and receipts to bind authorization. |
| Status | beta specification | released |
| Version | 2026-04-17 · repository identifies specification as beta | 0.2.0 |
| Discovery | Product feeds documented | Outside scope |
| Checkout | Specified; merchant deployment conditional | Authorizes checkout; does not define commerce API |
| Payment | Handler integration; not itself a payment network | Mandates and receipts; not a settlement rail |
| Authorization | Integration-specific; confirm chosen flow | Core role |
| Transport | HTTP APIs; released repository includes MCP work | Integration with commerce protocols |
| Adoption | Public spec and partner access docs; store-level use not inferred | Public specification; individual deployments Unknown |
| What it does not solve | Does not guarantee ChatGPT placement or automatic merchant approval. | Does not define the catalog API or replace a commerce protocol. |
| Evidence | 6 source record(s) Checked 2026-09-28 public-preview; scope-dependent | 3 source record(s) Checked 2026-09-28 public-preview; scope-dependent |
Unknown ≠ unsupported. Announcements and product documentation are not proof of your live integration.
Overlap and replacement risk
These entries occupy different layers. They can work together; replacing one with another may leave a commerce, communication or authorization gap. Keep your source of product truth, fulfillment responsibility and payment obligations explicit.
Go to the source.
Primary documentation records what is publicly stated. It does not independently prove outcomes or your account’s eligibility.
Claim scope: Specification version and scope
Latest stable shown as 2026-04-17; development branch is not a release.
Claim scope: Structured catalog and inventory ingestion for ChatGPT
Claim scope: Product feed access
Approved partners; file and API delivery. This is not evidence of universal checkout availability.
Claim scope: Full snapshot feed delivery
At least daily delivery recommended; not a scanner protocol endpoint.
Claim scope: Version metadata and documented changes only; not merchant adoption.
SHA-256 of retrieved source response: 6b58fb81a436890ede612af94779b0b60a127d95aa0a44b8179d20bb605ca8ea
Claim scope: Version metadata and documented changes only; not merchant adoption.
SHA-256 of retrieved source response: a427ed74696286be7804bb3a4c5dc4c9461b4862da1ed461eeb3e723b03bca9a
Claim scope: Authorization mandates and receipts
Payment authorization within a commerce protocol; catalog API details are out of scope.
Claim scope: Stewardship and integrations
Site states continued standardization within FIDO working groups.
Claim scope: Version metadata and documented changes only; not merchant adoption.
SHA-256 of retrieved source response: 43572d4defa8d53e8ab8dbfe90cc2d6734892aa93fcce009015d73cf21336ad6