# SlinkyLayer vs Web2 API Marketplaces Most API businesses today rely on one of a few familiar patterns. They sell subscriptions. They sell usage credits. They ask customers to preload an account. They issue long-lived API keys. They gate access behind user accounts and organization settings. Those choices are understandable. They evolved for a world where the customer was a company employee, a startup founder, or an engineering team with a budget owner. But those choices also introduce friction that becomes painfully obvious once software starts acting on its own. SlinkyLayer replaces those assumptions with a different model. Access is tied to payment at the request level. Identity is expressed through wallet-native primitives. Usage can be priced in small increments. Settlement can happen immediately. That shift has consequences. It means a small API can become monetizable without building a full billing stack. It means a model provider can charge for inference one call at a time instead of forcing everyone into a plan. It means developers can build software that pays for premium capabilities exactly when those capabilities are needed. It means agents can interact with the outside world in a way that looks less like account management and more like execution. This is not just a new payment button attached to an old API. It is a different way of thinking about access itself. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.slinky.network/understanding-slinkylayer/slinkylayer-vs-web2-api-marketplaces.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.