# Agent402 UK Cost Estimate (Sequential vs Batch)

> Agent402 UK Cost Estimate (Sequential vs Batch) is a paid API for AI agents from agent402.co.uk, paid per call via x402, $0.001/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Computes whether it is cheaper to make N sequential tool calls or use batch pricing, returning total costs and savings in USD.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://agent402.co.uk/v1/utils/cost-estimate
- Price: $0.001/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/agent402-uk-cost-estimate-sequential-vs-batch-d1bffce8
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_N9ZnVn8V8sBUWwg7yVEZ5

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability agent402-uk-cost-estimate-sequential-vs-batch-d1bffce8 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: 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?

## When to prefer this

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.

## Known failure modes

- 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

## How this service works

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.

## Output

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.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "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"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "prefer": "batch",
  "batched_usd": 0.01,
  "savings_usd": 0.04,
  "sequential_usd": 0.05
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/agent402-uk-cost-estimate-sequential-vs-batch-d1bffce8/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from agent402.co.uk](https://www.zero.xyz/host/agent402.co.uk/llms.txt)