Authoryze is built for running agents, not for approving one assistant's shopping. Each agent gets its own API key and rule set, caps can span every agent on the account, requests under your threshold go through without a tap, duplicates are caught before a second card exists, and a team can share one envelope with approvers and a record per member and agent. Allowance takes a similar core approach for consumers: one-time virtual cards, a human in the approval loop, spending limits and merchant locks, and the agent never sees your real card. You approve purchases from its app or the web, for things like reservations, food orders, and tickets.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Authoryze | Allowance |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Developers and teams running agents | Consumers approving a personal agent's purchases |
| Approval | Rules first, human approval by email or dashboard only for over-threshold requests | Approve each purchase in the app or on the web, or set a standing allowance with per-task, daily, or monthly caps |
| Integration | MCP server, OAuth for Claude and ChatGPT, API key for headless agents, works with Meta's Muse | Hosted MCP server with OAuth, Claude connector, ChatGPT plugin |
| Per-agent rules | Yes, each agent has its own key and rule set | No agent-level model, one person's wallet |
| Cross-agent aggregate caps | Yes, limits across all your agents | Not offered |
| Teams | Shared team envelope, approvers, per-member and per-agent records, one monthly plan | Not offered |
| Developer API and API keys | Yes | Not published |
| Duplicate-purchase protection | Built-in duplicate detection and review | Not documented |
| One-time virtual cards | Yes, a single-use credential per approved purchase, drawn from your enrolled card through the card networks' agentic programs (Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard Agent Pay) | Yes, generated from your existing card, merchant-locked, 24-hour default expiry |
| Pricing | Individuals: 1.5% per transaction, 0.50 USD minimum, no subscription, first 5 transactions free. Teams: Team Starter at 39.99 USD a month for up to 100 transactions or Team Pro at 174.99 USD for up to 500, 0.40 USD per transaction past either, 20 free to start | Free right now |
| Availability | Any agent that speaks MCP | US only |
Agent Infrastructure vs Consumer App
Both solve the same fundamental problem, letting an agent pay without exposing your card. Authoryze packages it as infrastructure. An MCP server your agents connect to, each with its own API key and rules, per-agent and cross-agent spending caps, duplicate detection, team envelopes with approvers, and an audit trail, built for someone running agents as part of a product or business rather than approving each purchase by hand.
Allowance packages the same idea as a consumer experience, with mobile and web approvals and a hosted MCP server for one person's wallet. It has a standing-allowance mode with per-task, daily, and monthly caps, but no agent-level model, no published developer API, and no way to bound what several agents spend together. Being free is a real advantage for one person with one assistant, and that is the honest tradeoff.
When Authoryze Is the Right Choice
Choose Authoryze if you are a developer or team running one or more agents and want spending governed programmatically. That means MCP-native integration, per-agent and cross-agent limits, human approval over thresholds, duplicate-purchase protection, shared team envelopes, and a full audit trail.
Sources
Allowance claims on this page were checked on September 16, 2026 against useallowance.com, its FAQ (useallowance.com/faq), its MCP page (useallowance.com/mcp), its one-time cards page (useallowance.com/one-time-cards), and its blog (useallowance.com/blog). If something has changed since, let us know.
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