Pay only for what agents actually do
clue is free to join for everyone. Advertisers pre-pay and are charged only for what agents actually do with a clue. Publishers and agent developers pay nothing and receive 65% of every paid event that came through their surface.
Advertisers
Most accountsFor companies that want AI agents to consider their product, API or service when it fits the task.
minimum first top-up. No subscription, no setup fee, no minimum monthly spend.
- Pre-paid USD balance. Top up from $50 to $5,000 by card, with optional automatic recharge.
- CPC from $0.05 per follow, CPA from $0.50 per reported action, CPM from $1.00 per 1,000 clues served.
- Second-price auction: pay one cent above the runner-up, never more than your maximum bid.
- Automatic policy review and translation into 20 languages included.
- Daily and total budgets, schedules, frequency caps and every matching rule, at no extra cost.
- Reports by day, country, language, agent type, vendor, campaign, clue, site and format. CSV download and the full REST API.
Publishers and agent developers
For websites, documentation, APIs, MCP servers and agents that AI agents already read or use.
of every paid event, credited immediately. clue keeps 35% as its platform fee.
- Free to register. Ten install paths, each a few lines, with your key already filled in.
- Agent analytics from the first request, whether or not a clue matched.
- Full control: block categories, advertisers or individual clues; set a floor eCPM; define a house clue for when nothing matches.
- Human visitors are never affected. Test mode returns labelled test clues that are never billed.
- Payout from $50 by PayPal, bank transfer or Stripe, within 30 days of your request.
- Reports by day, country, language, agent type, vendor, site, slot, format and advertiser.
Three ways to pay, one per campaign.
Pick the model that matches where your value is created. You can run campaigns with different models at the same time.
What one opened link really costs
An agent is booking a family hotel in Osaka for its user. Three advertisers have a clue that fits the task.
- 1Hoshino Stay bids $0.25 per opened link, Cross Hotel $0.18 and Dormy Inn $0.10. All three pass the relevance check.
- 2Hoshino Stay’s clue is delivered. If the agent opens the link, Hoshino pays the runner-up bid plus one cent: $0.19, not $0.25.
- 3The publisher of the travel guide that carried the clue is credited 65% of $0.19, that is $0.1235, at the same moment.
- 4Had Hoshino Stay been the only relevant clue, it would have paid 80% of its own bid: $0.20. Nobody ever pays more than their maximum bid.
Advertisers and publishers side by side
| Advertisers | Publishers and agent developers | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to join | Free. First top-up $50. | Free. |
| You pay | Per follow, per action or per 1,000 clues served, set by auction. | Nothing. |
| You receive | Consideration by agents that match your rules, in 20 languages. | 65% of every paid event from your surfaces, credited instantly. |
| Minimums | CPC $0.05 · CPA $0.50 · CPM $1.00 | Payout from $50. |
| Invalid traffic | Filtered before billing. Never charged. | Never paid. Repeated invalid traffic ends the account. |
| Reporting | Nine dimensions, CSV, REST API. | Nine dimensions plus agent analytics, CSV, REST API. |
| Support | Email, within one business day. | Email, within one business day. |
Why the platform fee is 35%.
clue keeps 35% of advertiser spend on partner inventory. Clues delivered through clue's own discover API and MCP server, where there is no publisher, are 100% clue. The fee pays for automatic policy review, translation into 20 languages, server-side verification of every event, fraud filtering and the auction itself. There are no setup fees and no minimums for publishers.
How that compares.
Mainstream display networks keep roughly a third of spend for inventory that is measured by viewability. Agent inventory is higher-intent, fully disclosed, translated at no extra cost and verified event by event on the server. A comparable fee funds a materially better product for both sides.
Pricing questions.
Is there a monthly minimum or a contract?
No. Advertisers pre-pay from $50 and spend it at their own pace. Unused balance stays on the account and is refundable on request within 12 months, less processing fees. Publishers never pay anything.
How is the second price calculated when there is only one relevant clue?
With no competitor, the winner pays 80% of its own maximum bid. With competitors, it pays the runner-up's bid plus one cent. In both cases the price is capped at the winner's maximum bid.
What counts as invalid traffic?
Repeated follows from the same session, more than 50 follows from one IP address in a day, follows on expired or tampered links, and traffic from unverified sites. Invalid events are recorded for transparency but neither charged nor paid.
When is a CPA campaign charged?
Only when you report an action for a specific follow, using the clue_id we appended to your destination URL. If you never report, you are never charged. Actions reported for CPC or CPM campaigns are recorded in your reports but not billed again.
How and when are publishers paid?
Earnings are credited to your account the moment an advertiser is charged. When your balance reaches $50 you can request a payout to PayPal, a bank account or a Stripe Connect account. Payouts are processed within 30 days of the request.
Are taxes included?
Prices are in US dollars and exclude applicable taxes. Stripe collects the tax that applies to your billing country at checkout and issues a receipt by email.
Agents are already choosing on people's behalf. Start now.
Create an account in a minute. Advertisers write an ad and top up from $50. Site and API owners paste a few lines and earn from the first visit.