{"uid":"cap_N9ZnVn8V8sBUWwg7yVEZ5","slug":"agent402-uk-cost-estimate-sequential-vs-batch-d1bffce8","name":"Agent402 UK Cost Estimate (Sequential vs Batch)","description":"Don't burn tokens on deterministic work. Go/no-go jobs first: payout preflight, text firewall (PII/secrets), budget check — then rails, calendars, finmath. x402 USDC on Base. UK + global. agent402.co.uk — not agent402.tools. $0.001–$0.002 USDC on Base. No API keys.","url":"https://agent402.co.uk/v1/utils/cost-estimate","method":"POST","headers":{},"bodySchema":{"type":"object","properties":{"calls":{"type":"string","description":"Number of single calls"},"batch_size":{"type":"string","description":"Items per batch"},"batch_price":{"type":"string","description":"USD per batch"},"price_per_call":{"type":"string","description":"USD per single"}}},"responseSchema":{"type":"json","example":{"prefer":"batch","batched_usd":0.01,"savings_usd":0.04,"sequential_usd":0.05}},"example":null,"exampleRequest":null,"tags":["x402"],"displayCostAmount":"0.001","displayCostAsset":"USDC","priceDynamic":false,"priceHint":null,"priceStatus":"priced","priceSource":"probe","requiresHandshake":false,"reviewCount":0,"rating":{"score":"0.00","successRate":"0.00","reviews":0,"stars":null,"state":"unrated"},"availabilityStatus":"unknown","priceObserved":null,"sessionDeposit":null,"pricing":{"kind":"static","summary":"$0.001/call","primary":{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.001","per":"call","confidence":"exact"},"accepted":[{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.001","per":"call","confidence":"exact"}]},"paymentMethods":[{"uid":"pm_5NdzFW5-f9ymBSP7bySEs","protocol":"x402","methodType":"crypto","chain":"base","mode":"charge","costAmount":"0.001","costPer":"request","priority":0,"asset":"0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913","unit":"request","depositMicros":null,"planRef":null}],"brandName":null,"brandSlug":null,"brandBaseUrl":null,"brandDocsUrl":null,"whatItDoes":"Computes whether it is cheaper to make N sequential tool calls or use batch pricing, returning total costs and savings in USD.","exampleAgentPrompt":"I'm planning to make 200 sequential tool calls at $0.01 each, but there's also a batch option that handles 50 items per batch at $0.08 per batch — can you calculate which is cheaper and how much I'd save?","exampleUseCases":[{"title":"Batch vs sequential budget decision","prompt":"I need to run 500 tool calls at $0.005 each, but there's a batch option: 100 items per batch at $0.20 per batch. Which strategy is cheaper and by how much?"},{"title":"Pre-flight USDC spend estimate","prompt":"Before I kick off my agent workflow, can you estimate the total cost if I make 80 sequential calls at $0.001 each versus batching them with a batch size of 20 at $0.015 per batch?"},{"title":"Optimizing large-scale agent pipeline","prompt":"I'm building a pipeline that needs 1000 API calls. Single calls cost $0.002 each, or I can batch 100 at a time for $0.15 per batch. Tell me which approach saves more money."}],"resultDescription":"Returns a JSON object with the preferred strategy ('sequential' or 'batch'), the total cost for sequential calls in USD, the total cost for the batched approach in USD, and the savings amount in USD by choosing the preferred option.","failureModes":["Missing required fields (calls, price_per_call, batch_size, batch_price) return an error","Non-numeric string values for numeric fields may cause computation failure","Zero or negative values for calls or batch_size may produce undefined results","Network timeout or service unavailability returns a non-200 response"],"whenToPreferThis":"Use this endpoint when an agent needs to decide before spending USDC whether sequential tool calls or batch pricing is more economical. It is purpose-built for x402 tool-call budget planning and returns a direct recommendation — not an LLM token counter or general cost calculator. Prefer this over manual arithmetic when the agent must commit to a strategy before executing a large number of calls.","instructions":null,"reviewSummary":null,"reviewSummaryHighlights":null,"reviewSummaryConcerns":null,"reviewSummaryGeneratedAt":null,"activationCount":0,"lastUsedAt":null,"lastSuccessfullyRanAt":null,"lastHealthCheckAt":"2026-09-14T18:53:36.714Z","isFirstParty":false}